France: Islamophobic tags discovered on a Muslim cultural center in Rennes
A police officer supervises the cleaning of the Islamic Cultural Center Avicenna after the discovery of Islamophobic tags on its facade, in Rennes on April 11, 2021. AFP - JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER
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In Rennes in western France, Islamophobic tags were discovered on Sunday April 11 on the walls of an Islamic cultural center that serves as a prayer room.
"
No to Islamization
", "
Vive le Roy
" or "
Charles Martel save us
": the inscriptions shocked the faithful arriving for the morning prayer.
An investigation was opened by the Rennes prosecutor's office.
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Two days before the
start of Ramadan
, Tuesday March 13, racist tags were discovered on the walls of an Islamic cultural center in Rennes, provoking a concert of condemnations, some denouncing an "
anti-Muslim climate
".
Christian crosses, the chrism (a Christian symbol dating from early Christianity) or a fleur-de-lis (royalist symbol) have also been tagged on this cultural center.
“
What worries us today is our safety during Ramadan prayers.
We would like to be able to pray serenely,
”confided a faithful in a white djellaba, on the sidelines of the visit of the
Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin
, who went there, in the Villejean district.
The latter met the leaders of the Muslim faith and expressed "
all the disgust that these inscriptions inspire in us, which are insults, insults to French Muslims, insults to France
".
The
Minister of the Interior
said he had instructed the prefects to “
protect
” Muslims “
during this period of religious feast
”:
I came to Rennes today to truly demonstrate the government's solidarity.
I had the President of the Republic earlier on the phone, who asked me to tell the leaders of this association, but also to the city of Rennes, all the disgust that these inscriptions inspire in us, which are insults - insults to French Muslims, and insults to France.
Since any place of worship, any place of religious inspiration is welcome in our country, it is one of our most fundamental freedoms: those to believe or not to believe.
And we owe protection to our fellow Muslims, as we owe it to our fellow Christians or Jews of course.
I came to say that there are no small facts, and that acts against Muslims are acts against the Republic, and by bringing this message to two days of the month of Ramadan, I mean to all our fellow citizens Muslims that the prefect was already given on Friday to particularly protect them during this period of religious feasts, as I did for the Passover and Easter feasts for Jews and Christians, and that we will be particularly vigilant in the coming days.
For Gérald Darmanin, the Islamophobic tags discovered in Rennes are "insults to French Muslims, insults to France"
Patrick Chompré
Several anti-Muslim acts
Abdallah Zekri, president of the National Observatory for the Fight against Islamophobia, for his part spoke of an “
anti-Muslim climate
” fueled by “
the statements of certain politicians
”.
Several anti-Muslim acts have been recorded in recent days in western France.
In Nantes, the door of a mosque was destroyed by fire on the night of Thursday 8 to Friday 9 April and a 24-year-old man, claiming neo-Nazi ideas, was indicted on Friday for threatening to attack the mosque of Mans.
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A Ramadan like no other?
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