After incidents targeting Muslims .. Thousands of French rally against Islamophobia

Thousands of people marched in Paris on Sunday to protest against Islamophobia, calling for an end to all forms of exclusion and racism against French Muslims.

Organizers said they called it as a gesture of support two weeks after a far-right person opened fire at a mosque in the southwestern city of Bayon, wounding two elderly men.

Members of leftist parties took part in the march, although others in the centrist parties did not, saying it threatened French secular traditions, while far-right leader Marin Le Pen said it was organized by Islamists.

The demonstrators raised banners "Yes to criticize religion, not to hate the believer, to put an end to Islamophobia, coexistence is a necessity" among many French flags. Some protesters also shouted "We are in solidarity with the veiled women".

The march, organized by the Association Against Intimidation of Islam in France, marched through Paris with banners like "Stop all forms of racism. Islamophobia is not an opinion but a crime."

The demonstration was called November 1 on the pages of the Liberation newspaper, four days after the attack on the Bayon mosque, amid controversy over the wearing of the veil and secularism.

"It was necessary to demonstrate after it took place in Bayonne to affirm religious and intellectual freedom," Jean-Luc Melonshon, leader of the far-left "France of the Fatherland", told reporters.

An IFOP poll earlier this month said more than 40 percent of Muslims in France felt religious discrimination.

"We are here to give a warning and say there is a level of hatred that cannot be tolerated," Larbi, a 35-year-old entrepreneur, told Reuters.

"We want to be heard and call for coexistence and not to exclude us from society," said 29-year-old Asma.

"We hear all that is said about Islam and about the veiled women today. They give prejudices to Muslims and exclude them from society," she said.

"With or without a veil, we are fed up with discrimination. I chose not to wear the hijab, but I feel sorry for what they wear," said nurse Najat Falah, who has been active in Algeria against wearing the hijab.

Islam is France's second-largest religion, which has the largest Muslim minority in Western Europe. Last month, a member of Le Pen's radical National Front (later the National Rally) party set off an ongoing debate over the status of Muslims and their religious symbols when he asked a woman to publicly remove her veil.