We have already covered the backlash against a plan to establish Tahiti’s first mosque, resulting in its closure shortly after opening and death threats directed against its imam, Hishan el-Barkani. Des Dômes Et Des Minarets draws our attention to a 400-strong anti-mosque demonstration that took place last weekend in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia.
The Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France draws our attention to a report in La Voix du Nord that on Sunday, in Hazebrouck in northern France, a pig’s head was found at the site where a mosque is to built.
Fait Réligieux reports that on Friday 8 November workers at the new Turkish cultural center under construction in Amboise, in the Indre-et-Loir department in west-central France, found a pig’s head on the site.
This is the third such incident there. Kazim Oflu and Ismail Ozdemir, secretary and president of the Association culturelle turque d’Amboise (Acta), said: “Another pig’s head was left here recently. And on 29 September 2012 we found a boar’s head, under the same circumstances: on our way to noon prayer, on a Friday.”
Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right National Front, joined notorious anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders in The Hague on Wednesday to announce a “historic” Europe-wide alliance of far-right parties ahead of next year’s European elections.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Dutch anti-Islamic leader Geert Wilders on Wednesday launched what they called a “historic” alliance to fight next year’s European elections, with other eurosceptic parties expected to join.
“Today is a historic day. We have taken a decision to ally ourselves with other patriots willing to work within the same dynamic,” Le Pen told journalists after talks with Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Wilders.
“Today is the start of the liberation of Europe from the monster of Brussels,” said Wilders, known for his platinum-blonde hair and his eurosceptic and anti-Islamic views.
The leader of France’s nationalist Front National is meeting Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch anti-Islam party PVV, on Tuesday and the two will hold a joint press conference about their plans for the European elections.
The aim of Marine le Pen and Wilders is to create a strong anti-EU block within the European parliament. Wilders has spoken several times of his efforts to form a pan-European grouping.
A leading French organization which combats anti-Muslim behaviour and speech launched a new smartphone and tablet app on Monday, allowing users to report incidents of Islamophobia by sending photos and videos to the group.
The Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en France (the Collective against Islamophobia in France) on Monday launched a smartphone app to enable members of the French public to report anti-Muslim acts and speech.
“In the face of Islamophobia, let’s all be witnesses,” CCIF said in a statement on Monday.
La Dépêche reports that two mosques at Besançon in eastern France have been desecrated with racist and fascist graffiti.
Three swastikas, accompanied by the slogans “France for the French”, “Vive la France”, “Arabs out” and “death to Muslims” were sprayed on the Al-Fath mosque. A swastika and the words “Long live the FN” (Front National) were also found on the wall of the Souna mosque.
AFP reports that on Wednesday night in Nîmes fascists attacked the home of Adbdallah Zekri, president of the Observatoire National contre l’Islamophobie, defacing it with racist and Nazi graffiti. As you can see, the slogans included “Islam out”, “Arabs out” and “Heil Hitler”, accompanied by swastikas, SS signs and a cross.
Marine Le Pen’s public relations efforts to soften the image of the far-right Front National were dented this week after she caused outrage by questioning the beards and scarves worn by returning French hostages .
Le Pen, whose party’s trademark is speaking out against immigration and public displays of Islam, said the appearance of the four men who had been held captive by for three years by Islamist militants in the Sahel desert was “troubling”.
She told Europe 1 radio: “Two of them had beards cut in a rather strange way. Their clothing was strange. One hostage had a scarf on his face. That all calls for some explanation on their part.”
Cassandra Bélin’s husband Michaël Khiri with her lawyer Philippe Bataille
A French lawyer has launched a new constitutional challenge to France’s burka ban as part of the defence of a woman whose arrest for wearing Islamic face-covering sparked riots in the French town of Trappes earlier this year. A court in Versailles postponed the trial of 20-year-old Cassandra Bélin until 11 December in order to consider her defence team’s claim the charges against her are unconstitutional.
Bélin, who was not present at the opening day of the trial, was facing trial for defying the ban and insulting a police officer. She denies police claims that she told them, “Allah will exterminate you!” The defence has requested a special procedure by which the country’s Constitutional Council would review a law that has already passed.