French Muslims and their places of worship have been the targets of scattered attacks following the killings of 12 people at a newspaper that had published material critical of Islam. So far no Muslims in France have been harmed in the attacks of the past day. Muslim leaders are doing their best to distance themselves and their communities from the jihadist attackers.
Muslims fear backlash after Charlie Hebdo deaths as Islamic sites attacked
Grenades and gun shots have struck several Islamic targets in France following the murderous attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, police and local media said, raising fears of an Islamophobic backlash among the country’s six million-strong Muslim community.
Three grenades hit a mosque in Le Mans, in the early hours of Thursday while in Aude, southern France, two gunshots were fired at an empty prayer room.
A Muslim family in their car in Vaucluse came briefly under fire but escaped unharmed, and a mosque in Poitiers was daubed with graffitti saying “Death to Arabs”. In Villefranche-sur-Saône, an explosion blew out the windows of a kebab shop next door to the town mosque.
On Thursday a delegation of about 20 imams from France’s Muslim federations visited the Charlie Hebdo offices in the 11th arrondissement of Paris and fiercely condemned the gunmen who killed 12 people, including 10 of the magazine’s staff and two police officers.
“These men are criminals, barbarians, satans. For me, they are not Muslims,” the imam of the Paris suburb of Drancy, said, addressing the media. “Their hatred, their barbarism, has nothing to do with Islam. We are all French, we are all humans. We must live in respect, tolerance and solidarity.”
Abdallah Zakir, president of the Observatory against Islamophobia, told AFP news agency that he was worried that there would be anti-Muslim events. “We’ve had at least three already, and the day is not yet over. I am afraid that these attacks will only spread in the days to come.”
There is a rising presence of right wing political organization in several European countries that are in political opposition to the presence of immigrants in general with a particular emphasis on Muslims. These organizations are not advocating violence against Muslims, just as the majority of Muslims are not advocating violence against non-Muslims. However, the growing political conflict creates an atmosphere that seems prone to ignite the extremists on both sides of the issue.
There are strong indications that the people who mounted yesterday's violent attack have active links to ISIS. One of them was identified by French people who had been held hostage in Syria. There had been fears for sometime that the violence in the Middle East would be spread to Europe with the return of European nationals who were fighting in the ISIS ranks. It looks like that may be coming true.