French Mosque Vandalised with Swastikas

AP

Swastikas and racial slurs have been painted on the walls of a mosque in the town of Saint-Etienne, says a prominent French Muslim group.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith says the vandalism took place on Monday morning at the mosque in the Loire region, in the latest example of rising Islamophobia.

The Council says such vandalism has multiplied in France “in a very worrisome way” and repeated a demand for the government to create a parliamentary panel to study rising Islamophobia.

Muslim leaders are among those saying that a debate in France on the face-covering veil and a national identity debate have stigmatised Muslims and fed anti-Muslim sentiment.

Nazi slogans and pig feet were found in December in a southern France mosque.