The convent, with its pricey hotel apartments, is located on Rue du Faubourg-Saint Martin in the tenth arrondissement, equidistant from the partially gentrified banks of the Canal St Martin and the still sleazy Gare de l'Est, with its bustling station population - long-distance passengers, commuters, lost souls and illegal immigrants.

Though the tenth arrondissement is moving upscale, with an influx of young professionals, the Gare de l'Est and nearby Gare du Nord sectors are quite shabby. The Recollets international centre also houses a cultural association that works to "dynamise" relations between the centre and the surrounding neighbourhood. Nasreen was quoted in the Guardian as saying how happy she will be to walk freely through the streets of Paris.

Could Robert Redeker enjoy such liberty? Could he walk from the Couvent de Récollets south to Place de la République, where the cries of "Israel Assassin" rang out last month, and from there down to Place Jean-Pierre Timbaud in the 11th arrondissement, site of one the most radical mosques in Paris?

For the time being, Redeker pursues his professional career in books, the media and cyberspace (www.robertredeker.fr), with an occasional carefully prepared public appearance. His latest opinion piece, "La rue, la mosque et la télévision" appeared in January in Le Figaro and describes with unflinching lucidity the French street transformed into the Arab street - the same slogans, same flags, same shameless support for Hamas, same calls for the destruction of Israel.

Demonstrators waving the green banners of Islam, the red of communism, the black of anarchy marched together, not for peace but for the victory of Hamas. This coalition of the Left with a Muslim population whose Islamic identity is forged in the mosque and whose rage is inflamed by emotionally charged television images bodes ill for the future of the Republic.

By the publication of this opinion in the same newspaper in which he wrote the article that thrust him out of the city, the forum and the academy, Robert Redeker is demonstrating lasting courage.