With the arrival of large numbers of Islamic immigrants, whose religion and cultural identity are deeply intertwined, many French fear that secularism could be chipped away at until it is one day destroyed. It's why there was so much public support last year for the ban in public schools on ostentatious religious symbols, Muslim headscarves included. It was not anti-Muslim or any other faith it was anti-religion, period.

In an attempt to bridge the chasm between secularism and Islam, France created the Council of the Muslim Faith in 2003 to act as a liaison between the government and religious leaders - and ultimately, it was speculated, to promote a French form of Islam.

Mark LeVine, a specialist in European Islam at the University of California, says Muslim immigrants "threaten the overarching French identity," but that a resolution to the current crisis isn't simply a matter of France opting for multiculturalism over integration.