He is suspected of “complicity in incitement to discrimination, hatred, or violence” based on remarks about The Great Replacement and Muslims in a November 2022 interview with the philosopher Michel Onfray forthe magazine Front Populaire.
In the interview, Houellebecq (author of Submission and other novels) described Muslims as a threat to the security of “Français de souche” (native French people of French origin).
He said the wish of that population was not for Muslims to assimilate, but for them to stop robbing and attacking French people, or to leave the country.
He also spoke of possible future “Bataclan in reverse” attacks targeting Muslims (referring to the 2015 Islamist attacks in Paris) and stated that the “great replacement” (the theory associated with Renaud Camus about demographic change in Europe) was not a theory but a statistical fact.
The case stems from criminal complaints filed in January 2023 by the Union of Mosques of France (UMF).
Houellebecq’s lawyers have rejected the charges, arguing the remarks contain no direct or indirect call to action and are protected by freedom of opinion and expression.