PARIS - More than 600 academics have called for France’s higher education minister to resign after she ordered an inquiry into claims that “woke” activists were helping to promote “Islamo-leftism” in universities.

The academics, who include top economist Thomas Piketty, have accused Frederique Vidal “of slandering the country’s intellectuals”, The Times reports.

In an open letter published in Le Monde newspaper, they also compare the minister’s stance to those of populist leaders such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Poland’s Andrzej Duda