Posted on 17 December 2012 by Amago
(Via Islamophobia-Watch.com)
On Tuesday 11 December six swastikas were found on the walls of the mosque in the Penhars neighbourhood of Quimper, in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-west France, the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France reports.
The CCIF points out that this is not the first time that the mosque has suffered such acts of vandalism. In September 2006 similar graffiti were found, and the mosque was the victim of an attempted arson attack.
See also Ouest-France, 13 December 2012
Posted on 27 November 2012 by Amago
(Via Islamophobia-Watch.com)
To their bewilderment and bitterness, on the morning of Saturday, November 24, Muslim worshippers at Villefontaine in northern Isère discovered racist graffiti on the walls of their mosque.
When they arrived at the mosque for their morning prayer, the Muslim faithful of Villefontaine found that the walls of their religious enclosure were covered with graffiti. The clearly Islamic slogans “Islam out of Europe” and “This is our home” had been written in black spray paint.
The public prosecutor in Vienne has just ordered an inquiry to be opened into criminal damage aggravated by its anti-Muslim character. This was assigned to the police force at Bourgoin-Jallieu.
In parallel, other slogans were discovered on the walls of the Sainte Marie Catholic boarding school, opposite the train station at Verpillière. These similarly involved Celtic crosses, which are often used by far-right movements.
France 3, 24 November 2012
The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) has issued a statement condemning the attack. Pointing out that this is just the latest in a long list of such attacks that have taken place since the beginning of 2012, the CFCM calls on the government to devote more resources to finding the perpetrators.
AFP reports that on Sunday afternoon some 300 people gathered in front of the Villefontaine mosque to express their support for the Muslim community. They included representatives of other faiths and political leaders. In his speech the rector of the Lyon Mosque, Kamel Kabtane, repeated the call made by the CFCM for a parliamentary inquiry into the rise of anti-Muslim hatred in France.
Posted on 01 August 2012 by Amago
Two pigs’ heads placed at the entrance of a mosque in Montauban was described as a “racist provocation” by a watchdog which monitors anti-Islamic actions in France. (AFP)
(Via IslamophobiaToday.com)
Muslims attending morning prayers Wednesday were confronted by two pigs’ heads in the entrance to their mosque in a French town where an Islamist gunman killed two paratroopers in March.
The incident in Montauban was described as a “racist provocation” by a watchdog which monitors anti-Islamic actions in France and as an “odious and blasphemous act” by the Montauban mayor, Brigitte Bareges.
It was the first of its kind in the southern Tarn-et-Garonne region but officials refused to speculate on a possible link to the March tragedy.
The paratroopers killed in March were two of the seven victims of Mohamed Merah, who also shot dead three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and another soldier in nearby Toulouse before being killed himself in a police siege of his apartment.
Hajii Mohamed, the imam at the mosque, told AFP the people who had left the pigs’ heads had also spilled a large amount of blood on the floor of the entrance to the mosque, which is located in a town house that has been converted to a place of worship.
“It is contemptible,” the imam told AFP. “To attack a religion like this, I don’t know what is happening. People lose their heads, especially during Ramadan.”
Abdallah Zekri, the chairman of France’s Islamophobia Observatory, said Wednesday’s outrage occurred against the background of an increase in anti-Muslim actions in the first half of 2012.
“For this to occur during the holy month of Ramadan, it’s unspeakable,” he said. “It is racist provocation.”
Wednesday’s incident also came hot on the heels of a controversy over the treatment of four young Muslims who were sacked for observing the Ramadan daytime fast while looking after children on a summer camp.
The town council which had dismissed the four instructors reacted to an outcry over the issue on Tuesday by announcing that it would no longer enforce a requirement for summer camp workers to eat and drink in the middle of the day.
French authorities have also been at odds with the biggest Islamic community in Europe over legislation which bans women from wearing full veils while recent elections have been marked by debate over the use of halal methods of animal slaughter.
Posted on 22 November 2011 by Emperor
This is like deja-vu, how many times have we ran such a headline?
Sud Ouest reports that when a member of staff arrived at the mosque in Villeneuve-sur-Lot in south west France on Saturday morning they found that the slogan “Islam out of Europe” had been daubed on the walls in black paint along with swastikas and “88″ (Nazi code for “Heil Hitler”). A wooden pallet had been set on fire against the front door but had only caused minor damage. Police also discovered a bottle thought to contain a fire accelerant.
A report by Ajib (via Islam in Europe) points out that the graffiti and arson at Villeneuve-sur-Lot is the latest in a series of criminal attacks on French mosques. Earlier this month the mosque in Montbéliard was the target of an arson attack that caused serious damage. A few days before, on the day of Eid al-Adha, Muslims in Saint-Armand-les-Eaux in the département du Nord were shocked to discover racist graffiti on the door of their mosque.
In a statement condemning the attack in Villeneuve-sur-Lot the Conseil Francais du Culte Musulman reiterates its call for a parliamentary inquiry into the rise of anti-Muslim hatred in France.
