MAMOUDZOU: French authorities on Sunday announced a controversial plan to amend the Consti­tution to revoke birthright citizenship on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, which has been struggling with social unrest and a crippling migration crisis.

The proposal risks to further ramp up tensions in France following the adoption of a tough new law on immigration, with the left denouncing the fresh plan as another attack on France’s centuries-old values.

The reform was announced by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who arrived on the island, the country’s poorest department, on Sunday following three weeks of protests there.

In Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, several hundred protesters greeted Darmanin and his entourage with boos and shouts of “Mayotte is angry”.

Mayotte is composed of two islands that voted to stay part of France in 1973, while the others in the surrounding Muslim-majority archipelago sought independence, becoming the Comoros Islands.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2024