France: Youth vandalize mosque crescent
Young assailants twisted the metal crescent atop a mosque in eastern France, the local gendarmerie said on Saturday, adding it had launched an investigation.
But it characterised the act, which took place overnight Friday, as one of vandalism rather than anti-Islamic, at a time of heightened sensitivities as the government mulls the banning of the full, face-covering Muslim veil.
“This appears much more like (an act) of immaturity rather than an act of Islamophobia,” the gendarmerie said.
But the French Council of the Muslim Faith denounced the incident in a statement as “provocation and irrational hatred.” The gendarmes said four youths aged around 20 had climbed the roof of the mosque in the Alsace town of Obernai and twisted its metal crescent, which is the Islamic symbol.
By the time gendarmes arrived on the scene, the youths had fled.
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Source: Qatar Tribune (English)
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