France: Mosque vandalized with swastikas

France: Mosque vandalized with swastikas


The graffiti included swastikas, "skinhead" and "Vive le cochon!" (long live the pig).  Similar graffiti was also painted on several bus-station and the walls of an elementary school in the town.  According to the Pas-de-Calais police, the mosque is not recognizable on the outside, and therefore they suppose it was done by locals.

The President of the CRCM (regional council of Muslims), Amar Lasfar, said he would lodge a complaint.  Lasfar says this attack has a national and international context and particularly citing the situation in Iran and the burka debate, said he regrets that French Muslims are at the mercy of such things.   Lasfar said that the mosque had been the target of such attacks several times.

The CFCM (French Council of the Muslim Faith) put out a press release calling the public authorities to take the necessary steps to end these unspeakable acts which are detrimental to the serenity of religious practice in our country.


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Police say vandals scrawled swastikas and racist insults across the doors and walls of a mosque in northern France.


Police in the Pas-de-Calais region say an imam discovered the inscriptions painted in red on the mosque in the town of Estevelles on Sunday.


Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie in a statement calls the incident an "intolerable" attack on "religious freedom and the dignity of a place of worship."


(more)


Sources: AP (English), AFP (French) [+ photos]

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