ANNECY, France, 7 March 2004 — French Muslim leaders were up in arms yesterday over two apparent arson attacks on mosques in eastern France on Friday, attacking the political establishment for failing to attend a silent protest demonstration here and blaming the fires on the recent debate over France’s new law banning the wearing of the hijab.
One fire totally devastated an 80-square meter prayer room in nearby Seynod, while the other seriously damaged the heating system at the mosque in a suburb of Annecy.
Addressing some 300 protesters in Annecy, Kamel Kabtane, president of the regional Rhône-Alpes council of the Conseil Français du Culte Musulman (CFCM), criticized the absence of concern by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who recently, during the state visit to France of Israeli president Moshe Katsav had identified himself with a campaign by the French authorities to declare war against anti-Semitism in France.
“We are in a pre-electoral period and many politicians did not dare come, fearing perhaps a backlash from voters,” he added. These “criminal actions” were partly the result of an Islamophobic mood settling over France, said Kabtane. as well as stemming from the debate over secularism in the country.
He blamed the veil debate for stirring it up. It had brought about “an anti-Muslim reaction”. It was the end result of “all these speeches we’ve been hearing ever since May of last year — a reference to the date when Sarkozy’s plan to set up the CFCM, France’s first representative body for the country’s five million Muslims, came into effect.
President Jacques Chirac condemned the torching of the mosques, assuring the Muslim community of his sympathy and support. A statement said the president had been deeply disturbed by the news of the attacks in Seynod and Annecy.
“Without prejudging the inquiry that is in progress, he strongly condemns these hateful acts,” a statement said.
Chirac, it continued,” expresses his sympathy and support to all the Muslims of France and assures them of the government’s determination to find and punish those who carried out these attacks.”
The mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe also condemned the apparent arson attacks. In a letter to the rector of the Paris Mosque and president of the CFCM, Dalil Boubakeur, he solidly supported all the Muslims of France, and condemned the “blind hatred” that lay behind such acts.
Meanwhile, Boubakeur, warned that such acts “can only worsen the sensitive religious climate in our country.”
French Justice Minister Dominique Perben Friday said the perpetrators being sought by police should be given exemplary punishment while Muslim leaders have called for mosques to benefit from the same level of protection as synagogues.
Perben said he wanted a tough new law against racially and religiously motivated attacks passed last year to be applied. The law provides for jail terms for offenders of up to 20 years.
