Far-right Attacks Scare French Muslims
A recent foiled anti-Muslim shooting attack has send shockwaves among French Muslims, fearing a surge on attacks on their mosques and lives.
"There is a clear will today to hurt the Muslim community," Kamel Kabtane, rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon, told Reuters on Monday, August 12.
"These are no longer isolated acts. It feels like there is a whole organization being put in place," he said, adding that two minor acts had been carried out against mosques in southeastern France over the weekend.
Kabtane comments came during a meeting with Muslim leaders in the French city of Lyon.
During the meeting he urged local Muslims to show solidarity at the suburban Minguettes Mosque, which police said the soldier arrested on Saturday planned to shoot at on the Muslim `Eid al-Fitr holiday.
According to the interior ministry, a 23-year-old French soldier was arrested at his air force base near the city of Lyon for planning an attack on a local mosque.
The suspect was placed under formal investigation on Monday, accused of "possessing category 4 ammunition in relation to a terrorist undertaking".
He is also accused of "defacing a place of worship in relation to a terrorist undertaking" for the Bordeaux attack, a legal source said.
The soldier held views "close to those of the radical extreme right" and had already attacked a mosque in the Bordeaux region last year without causing much damage, the ministry said, without giving further details.
Security services are grappling with an increase in far-right militant activity in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim minority.
The government closed down half a dozen far-right militant groups in July after the death of a left-wing student in a brawl between fringe groups.
A recent report issued last July by Committee against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) showed an increase in verbal and physical attacks against Muslims in France.
In an annual report, the CCIF said anti-Muslim attacks rose to 469 last year, from only 298 in 2011 and 188 in 2010
Attacks against mosques had almost doubled to 40 in 2012 compared with 2011, the CCIF said.
According to rightist activists, the increasing anti-Muslim attacks came as a result of the recent ban for far-right groups and the appearance of lone wolves.
"Dissolving nationalist movements drives people to carry out isolated, reckless acts," Alexandre Gabriac, the young founder of a now banned far-right group called the Revolutionary Youths,
"Our groups enabled the anger that is rising to be channeled and transformed into a political foundation.
“These isolated acts will be more and more frequent."
French Muslims, estimated at nearly six million, have long complained of rising discrimination and hostile sentiments in the European country.
France banned the wearing of face-veil, or niqab, in public places in 2011.
Offenders are fined 150 euros ($189) or required to take part in a citizenship class.
People who force women to wear a face-veil risk up to a year in prison and a fine of $41,000.
It came after the European country banned the wearing of hijab, an obligatory code of dress in Islam, in 2004.
Amnesty International has criticized France and a number of European countries as Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland for discriminating against their Muslim minorities.
The London-based group said several European countries have made policy decisions in recent years that discriminate against their Muslim citizens, citing bans on face-veils and other religious symbols in schools as being among the most damaging measures.
A recent IFOP poll found that almost half of French see Muslims as a threat to their national identity.
Source: On Islam
"These are no longer isolated acts. It feels like there is a whole organization being put in place," he said, adding that two minor acts had been carried out against mosques in southeastern France over the weekend.
Kabtane comments came during a meeting with Muslim leaders in the French city of Lyon.
During the meeting he urged local Muslims to show solidarity at the suburban Minguettes Mosque, which police said the soldier arrested on Saturday planned to shoot at on the Muslim `Eid al-Fitr holiday.
According to the interior ministry, a 23-year-old French soldier was arrested at his air force base near the city of Lyon for planning an attack on a local mosque.
The suspect was placed under formal investigation on Monday, accused of "possessing category 4 ammunition in relation to a terrorist undertaking".
He is also accused of "defacing a place of worship in relation to a terrorist undertaking" for the Bordeaux attack, a legal source said.
The soldier held views "close to those of the radical extreme right" and had already attacked a mosque in the Bordeaux region last year without causing much damage, the ministry said, without giving further details.
Security services are grappling with an increase in far-right militant activity in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim minority.
The government closed down half a dozen far-right militant groups in July after the death of a left-wing student in a brawl between fringe groups.
A recent report issued last July by Committee against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) showed an increase in verbal and physical attacks against Muslims in France.
In an annual report, the CCIF said anti-Muslim attacks rose to 469 last year, from only 298 in 2011 and 188 in 2010
Attacks against mosques had almost doubled to 40 in 2012 compared with 2011, the CCIF said.
According to rightist activists, the increasing anti-Muslim attacks came as a result of the recent ban for far-right groups and the appearance of lone wolves.
"Dissolving nationalist movements drives people to carry out isolated, reckless acts," Alexandre Gabriac, the young founder of a now banned far-right group called the Revolutionary Youths,
"Our groups enabled the anger that is rising to be channeled and transformed into a political foundation.
“These isolated acts will be more and more frequent."
French Muslims, estimated at nearly six million, have long complained of rising discrimination and hostile sentiments in the European country.
France banned the wearing of face-veil, or niqab, in public places in 2011.
Offenders are fined 150 euros ($189) or required to take part in a citizenship class.
People who force women to wear a face-veil risk up to a year in prison and a fine of $41,000.
It came after the European country banned the wearing of hijab, an obligatory code of dress in Islam, in 2004.
Amnesty International has criticized France and a number of European countries as Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland for discriminating against their Muslim minorities.
The London-based group said several European countries have made policy decisions in recent years that discriminate against their Muslim citizens, citing bans on face-veils and other religious symbols in schools as being among the most damaging measures.
A recent IFOP poll found that almost half of French see Muslims as a threat to their national identity.
Source: On Islam
