France's Hollande: protect all religions

PARIS, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- French President Francois Hollande reinforced his country's pledge Thursday to protect all religions, after 17 were killed last week in attacks in Paris.

"French Muslims have the same rights as all other French," he said. "We have the obligation to protect them. The law has to be enforced in a firm way in places of worship like churches, mosques, and synagogues. Anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic acts have to be condemned and punished," Hollande told the Arab World Institute in Paris, adding, "It is Muslims who are the first victims of fanaticism, fundamentalism and intolerance."

Hollande's leadership since the attacks on the magazine Charlie Hebdo, a Paris kosher supermarket, and the shooting of a police officer have caused his popularity in France to improve. Formerly the most unpopular president in recent French history, a survey indicates 25 percent of respondents approve of his presidency, up from 18 percent in October.

In a week, Hollande oversaw a successful manhunt which ended in the killing of three suspects, and organized an international show of support in which 3.7 million people, including global leaders, rallied in Paris.

"This is not yet a turning point, it's too early to tell, but it could be made into one. It is an incredible opportunity for him to change his image profoundly. Without it, Hollande would have had a very hard time. He needs to seize the moment, Bruno Jeanbart of the polling firm OpinionWay told Bloomberg News.

The poll for the newspaper Metro and the television channel LCI of 1,007 French voters was taken between Jan. 6 and Jan. 8, the majority after the attack on the magazine office.