VIDEOS – The criminal path is preferred. “No anti-religious act should not be tolerated,” said Hollande. The Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has expressed its “solidarity with the Muslims of Corsica”.
A Muslim prayer room Ajaccio Saturday morning was ravaged by fire probably arson, said the prosecutor. Around 05:00, the incident has severely damaged the premises located at the entrance of Ajaccio Mezzavia in the district, said the prosecutor of Ajaccio, Eric Bouillard.
According to the prefect of Corsica Christophe Mirmand, “traces of hydrocarbons” were discovered during the first surveys of agents of the scientific police.
the prayer room, located behind the football stadium of the team Gazélec Ajaccio, is one of the two largest in the city. The building is regularly used to host youth for tutoring, told AFP a faithful, lamenting that “140 children” can not be received on Sunday.
“If the criminal is confirmed , its perpetrators will be quickly identified and convicted. No anti-religious act should not be tolerated, “according to a statement from the president passed by the Elysee.
In a statement, the Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has expressed its” solidarity with Muslims in Corsica. ” “If the criminal is confirmed it will result in the active search for the perpetrators, who must answer for this unacceptable act to justice. The interior minister reminded the government’s determination to protect all places of worship, and to ensure freedom of worship throughout the territory, “the minister added.
” The damage are very, very important, “lamented to AFP Abdallah Zekri, President of the Observatory against Islamophobia, which” strongly condemns this act vile and hateful “. He asked the authorities “to shed full light on this event in order to avoid the escalation of violence.” “There are people who are desperate to undermine community life,” he lamented, while calling for calm.
The leaders of the island, President autonomist Executive Gilles Simeoni and independence President of the territorial Assembly Jean-Guy Talamoni, expressed in a joint statement their “dismay.” “To attack a place of worship is an incomprehensible and inaccceptable act contrary to the fundamental values of the Corsican people, including the centuries-old tradition of religious tolerance inherited from Pasquale Paoli (philosopher and politician regarded as the father of the Corsican identity, ed), “they added.
the investigation for degradation by fire was entrusted to the judicial police and investigators to public safety.
loss occurs a few months after the racist and anti-Muslim outbursts that accompanied the protests that followed the attack firefighters lured into an ambush in the popular Les Jardins of the Emperor on Christmas Eve in Ajaccio.
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a Muslim prayer room, located near the gardens of the Emperor, had been ransacked and including copies of the partially burned Quran. Slogans like “Arabi Fora” (Arabs outside, note) or “us We are in” were chanted during these parades in the popular area.
After the incidents of the Gardens of the Emperor some anti-Muslim acts were registered in the following weeks, including the filing of a boar’s body to a Muslim prayer room and graffiti “Arabs out” roadsides. “There had been a lull since the end of the year, unfortunately, some bad guys want to fire” regrets Abdallah Zekri.