Another act of vandalism against a mosque. One day after Eid ul-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of Ramadan for Muslims, the mosque in Libourne (Aquitaine) was targeted on Monday night. An individual threw a Molotov cocktail at the front of the brand new place of worship, which opened in 2011.
Fortunately, the damage is not serious. Only a few traces on the wall show the start of a fire that was quickly extinguished. The Lilbourne mosque is, in fact, situated right in front of the town’s fire station. Firefighters intervened very quickly after one of them saw a person throw a Molotov cocktail and flee the scene by car.
“This is the first time we have suffered such an attack”, Omar N’Fati, a member of the management committee of the Libourne Muslim Association (AML) and a town councillor for the left majority, told the regional newspaper Sud-Ouest. “We maintain good relations with the people of Libourne. This act reinforces our attitude”, he added. Moreover AML vice-president Elhassane Ammar saw this attack as only an isolated act.
Philippe Buisson, the mayor of Libourne and a regional councillor, called the association on Tuesday morning to express his indignation. “Violence against any place of worship is intolerable. I remain committed to tolerance and respect for differences”, he said in a statement condemning the attack. He plans to invite all the town’s religious authorities “so that we can all make a vow of fraternity and respect towards citizens”, he said.
The Libourne police are conducting an inquiry in order to shed light on this attempted arson.
Recently, during the month of Ramadan, the mosque at Montauban was the target of an Islamophobic act. Two pig’s heads were found on its gate and large pool of blood was spilled on the ground at the mosque’s entrance.
See also Collectif contre l’islamophobie en France, 21 August 2012
Montauban mosque was not the only other victim of an Islamophobic attack in France during Ramadan. The door of a mosque in Limoges was sprayed with Nazi symbols at the end of July, as was a local bridge, while in nearby Le Palais-Sur-Vienne a pig’s head and Odin cross were sprayed on the window of a kebab restaurant. A week ago in Le Barp vandals broke into another Muslim place of worship and defaced it with racist slogans and swastikas.