Category Archives: France

Victim of racist attack attempts suicide

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Le Parisien reports that Aissetou, the young Muslim women who was attacked by racists in the Parisian suburb of Trappes earlier this month, is in hospital, having tried to commit suicide by throwing herself from a fourth-floor window.

The Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France states that she had suffered hostile treatment from the police, who challenged her version of events and evidently regarded her as a liar. The CCIF pledges its full support to Aissetou and her family, and calls for an inquiry into the case.

See also Le Point, 27 August 2013

Update:  See “French girl attempts suicide after ‘veil attack’”, France 24, 27 August 2013

Racist attack on Muslim couple in Annecy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islam & Info reports that a Muslim couple who are on holiday in Annecy in south-eastern France were racially abused and assaulted by a group of skinheads on Saturday night.

24 heures adds that a Swiss man, described by the Public Prosecutor’s office as belonging to an “extreme right-wing group”, has been arrested in connection with the attack and charged with “intentional violence while drunk”. He has been remanded in custody and will appear in court in October.

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Racist graffiti on Cognac mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cognac mosque graffiti

The mosque at Cognac, in southwestern France, suffered a graffiti attack on Monday night, Charente Libre reports. The slogan “à mort les bougnoules” (death to the wogs) was written on the door of the women’s entrance and a Christian cross drawn on the wall. Small posters with pig’s heads were scattered on the steps along with pieces of ham and sausage meat. Police are also examining sheets of paper with racist messages printed on them that were left at the scene.

UMP vice-president wants to ban vegetarian meals in school canteens

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Laurent Wauquiez UMPAs part of a proposed programme for his party’s candidates in next year’s municipal elections, mayor of Puy-en-Velay and UMP vice-president Laurent Wauquiez has put forward a “pacte de laïcité“, which he claims would further the fight against “communalism”. It would include a commitment to ban the provision of different meals in school canteens.

This goes beyond a refusal to provide halal or kosher meals for Muslim or Jewish students. As the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie points out, most parents don’t ask for the substitution of specific school meals adapted to their religious requirements, but simply ask that non-halal or non-kosher meat should not be served to their children.

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Muret mosque desecrated

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muret mosque pig's footAl-Kanz reports that a mosque in Muret, near Toulouse in southwestern France, has been desecrated. On 2 August, between noon and 1pm, a pig’s foot was tied to the gate of the building.

A complaint has been lodged with the police, but the association that manages the mosque has decided not to publicise the attack “in order not to give importance to these people”.

Al-Kanz argues that it the current situation, when there are some within the French government who are intent on denying the reality of Islamophobia, this decision is mistaken.

Mélenchon accuses Valls of adopting ideology of far right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jean-Luc MélenchonLe Monde reports that in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Parti de Gauche candidate in last year’s French presidential election, has attacked interior minister Manuel Valls.

Endorsing a description of Valls as representing the “extreme right” of the socialist movement, Mélenchon accused him of falling under the influence of Marine Le Pen and trying to compete with the Front National in appealing to anti-Muslim bigotry. Mélenchon stated:

“Madame Le Pen is on the verge of winning her bet. Not only has she seduced most of the right but she has also contaminated Manuel Valls. And it is he who sets the tone for the government. See how he has polluted part of the summer over the question of the veil. Muslims in our country are the object of unbearable stigmatisation.”

Mélenchon added: “He decided cynically to use this unhealthy situation to establish his personality as a hard and violent man who is hunting on the territory of Madame Le Pen.”

Anti-Muslim graffiti in Avignon and Orléans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Avignon anti-Islam graffiti

The Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France reports that a man has been arrested following the appearance of anti-Muslim graffiti in the centre of Avignon during the night of 12-13 August. He is to be charged with incitement to racial hatred.

The CCIF notes that this follows an earlier graffiti attack in Orléans-la-Source during the night of 7-8 August. In that case the perpetrators got off with just a fine, to the indignation of the local community, who have lodged a complaint.

The CCIF adds that although the minister of the interior, Manuel Valls, has severely condemned such acts, which continue to multiply, this makes no difference to the situation that the Muslim community in France faces. They have been subject to series of cowardly and dangerous attacks which are repeated and intensified due to the inaction of political leaders.

‘I was attacked for wearing a Muslim veil’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Huffington Post has a shocking account by Aissetou, a 16-year-old school student, who was attacked by racists in the western Parisian suburb of Trappes.

See also “French teen ‘attacked for wearing Muslim veil'”, The Local, 15 August 2013

As the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France points out, this is not the first time that a young Muslim woman has been attacked in Trappes.

‘Islamophobic France’: Muslim leader urges government to act

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kamel Kabtane addresses rally

A French Muslim leader has condemned the “climate of Islamophobia” in France after a soldier was arrested for planning a terrorist attack on a mosque. Citing figures that racist attacks had risen by 60 per cent, he accused the government of inaction.

Mosque rector Kamel Kabtane addressed over 100 supporters gathered outside the El Forkane mosque in the Venissieux suburb of Lyon on Monday. He condemned the arrest of a 23-year-old sergeant who was taken into custody suspected of planning a terrorist attack on the mosque as evidence of increasing hostility towards French Muslims.

The officer was detained at Mont Verdan airbase last Wednesday for being “possession of ammunition linked to a terrorist enterprise” against a place of worship.

“The fact that a soldier has been arrested for a terrorist plot shows a climate of Islamophobia reigns in France today, we cannot deny it,” Kabtane told supporters. He stressed that the presence of a “black sheep” in the army was evidence the institution had been “infected” by the extreme right. “Muslims are afraid, veiled women don’t dare leave the house,” said Kabtane, comparing the current racial tension to the anti-Semitism of the 1930s.

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Police: French soldier planned to attack mosque on last day of Ramadan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A French soldier has been arrested in connection with alleged plans to attack a mosque in the city of Lyon, police said.

The man, 23, was arrested at an air base in Lyon after relatives told police they found suspicious documents in his possession, Radio France International reported Monday. The Interior Ministry said charges against him include planning to damage a place of worship “in connection with a terrorist enterprise.”

Investigators said the soldier told them he planned to fire shots at a mosque in Venisseux, a Lyon suburb, on the last day of Ramadan. He also admitted to throwing a firebomb at a mosque in southwestern Libourne in August 2012.

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