France: Shots fired at mosque

France: Shots fired at mosque


FRANCE'S prime minister says gunshots were fired at a mosque in southern France. No one was hurt, and police are investigating.


Francois Fillon's office says he told Muslim leaders on Monday of his 'deep emotion and his support' after the incident at a mosque in the southern city of Istres.


Police say about 30 shots were fired at the mosque's facade before dawn on Sunday. Mosque officials discovered the damage later.


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Faouzi Lamdaoui (PS, Socialist Party) condemned the shooting of the Istres mosque (Bouches-du-Rhône), a 'direct consequence', he says, of the 'hazardous' policies of the government, which 'stigmatize' French Muslims.  In the statement, the former national secretary of the PS also expressed his 'anger and outrage' at this 'unacceptable' act, a 'direct consequence of the hazardous policy led by the Fillon government, which involves stigmatizing part of the French population, whose only crime is of being Muslims or of being suspected of such."

He added that the manipulation and politicization of the issue of the full veil by Nicolas Sarkozy, also commits him to ensure security for certain small groups. Lamdaoui asked the democrats and republicans to block this 'suicidal policy' and demanded an effective instigation followed by exemplary punishments against the perpetrators of this heinous act.

Sources: Straits Times (English), Le Figaro (French)

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