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France witnesses spike in anti-Muslim attacks after Charlie Hebdo shootings

More than 50 anti-Muslim incidents have been reported across France.

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French police officers posted outside the mosque of Poitiers, west-central France, following what is believed to be an arson attack, on January 12, 2015.
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More than 50 anti-Muslim incidents have been reported across France since the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris a week ago. The reports include incidents of shootings and threats against Muslims in France. The anti-Muslim backlash started on January 7 and has spiked at an alarming rate with 54 reports of assaults which consisted of 21 cases of gunfire and grenades thrown at Islamic buildings and 33 cases of threats, Abdallah Zekri, president of the National Observatory of Islamophobia, said in a statement on Wednesday.


A picture taken on January 10, 2015 in Aix-les-Bains, French Alps, shows the praying room of a mosque which has been burnt. There is a "high probability" that the fire that caused extensive damage at the mosque on the night from January 8 to 9, 2015, is finally arson, announced the Chambery Attorney.  AFP

On 7 January, two Islamist gunmen barged in the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire on the journalists assembled there for their weekly editorial meeting. They were reportedly offended by cartoons of Prophet Mohammad published by the magazine.The attack resulted in the death of 12 people and wounded several others.

Soon after the attack, four gunshots were fired at a mosque near the southwestern city of Albi. Another mosque in the central-eastern town of Aix-les-Bains was burned down that night. Reports state that a pig's carcass was hung outside a Muslim prayer room in Ghisonaccia, while derogatory words like "dirty Arabs" and "assassins" were spray-painted on the walls of a mosque in the city of Bayonne.The words "Arabi Fora" ('Arabs go away' in Corsican) were also written on a building of the Council of the Muslim Faith in Ajaccio. A similar graffiti was seen at the site of a future mosque in Bethune, and Nazi swastikas and a pig’s head were found outside a mosque in Lievin.


French police scour the scene of an explosion at a kebab shop damaged following an explosion near a mosque, on January 8, 2015, in Villefranche-sur-Saone, eastern France. 

Around 110 incidents of anti-Muslim violence were reported from January to September in 2014. Considering these numbers, the attacks have spiked at an alarming rate within only a week. Commenting on the attacks, Abdallah Zekri said, "I am outraged by the rise of Islamophobia. Only yesterday we marched calmly and serenely, side by side, in a sign of our diversity."

The rector of the Great Mosque of Paris and president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith Dalil Boubakeur said, "All Muslim organisations in France are concerned about the numerous anti-Muslim acts seen in the past few days and call on the authorities to be vigilant to ensure the security of mosques," CNN reported.  


French police officers stand guard outside Paris's main mosque, on January 9, 2015 in Paris. AFP

Immense support poured in for victims of the massacre through the 'Je Suis Charlie' campaign.  However, one can notice the wide contrast in how France reacted to the Islamist shootings and how Australia reacted after the Sydney siege in December 2014 when an Islamist gunman held people hostage in a popular cafe. Muslims of the country were afraid to step out fearing an anti-Islamic backlash then. However, Australians came forward with the #illridewithyou campaign, showing immense support to the Muslim community of the country. 

In an attempt to curb any backlash towards the community, Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls said that the defence ministry has deployed 10,000 troops at sites, including synagogues, mosques and airports.The Union of Islamic Organizations in France has also asked the French authorities to take all the necessary steps to protect Muslims and mosques as it rejected any link with terrorists. Valls said that France's war is with terrorism and not Islam. 

Also Read: World leaders join mass Paris march to honour victims of Charlie Hebdo shooting

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