Excerpt:
Swiss Islamic intellectual Tariq Ramadan laid into French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a speech to the annual meeting of a major Muslim organisation Saturday. His call to "unite France" and not "divide it" came after government ministers criticised the Union of Islamic Organisations of France's (UOIF) invitation to him to speak.
Before the UOIF meeting at Le Bourget near Paris this weekend Interior Minister Claude Guéant said he regretted the fact that Ramadan was on the speakers' list.
He may regret it even more after Ramadan's speech, which did not name him or the president but clearly targeted their rhetoric during the presidential election campaign and their reaction to the killing spree of "lone-wolf" Islamist Mohamed Merah.