PARIS: Hundreds of mosques all over France have opened their doors to the public on Saturday and Sunday, as the country marks one year since militants attacked a satirical newspaper and Jewish supermarket, killing 17 people.

The idea to initiate the dialogue weekend is aimed at educating non-Muslims about their culture, at a time when extremist attacks have fostered negative impressions of the faith.

The open-door initiative that includes tea and pastries was organized by France’s main Muslim body to counter islamophobia and highlight the differences between jihadism and moderate, peace-loving Islam.

After fresh attacks in November, police conducted over a dozen raids on Muslim places of worship and closed several over radicalization fears.

In other events to mark the first anniversary of January’s attacks, French President Francois Hollande paid homage to a female police officer killed by gunman Amedy Coulibaly. In the evening, many will gather for an homage at a Jewish supermarket, the site of a fatal hostage siege.

Tensions heightened following the Paris attacks of Nov. 13 when extremists killed 130 people at a variety of locations across France’s capital city. Since then, France has declared a state of emergency and closed three mosques thought to have been “radicalizing” their members.

France has at least 2,500 mosques and most of them are participating in the event, the prominent ones among them being the Grand Mosque of Paris. The effort is backed by the country’s leading Muslim body, the French Council of the Muslim Faith.

The president of the group, Anouar Kbibech, told reporters that the mosques are inviting people to meet “normal Muslims” and partake in refreshments, guided tours, workshops and discussions, or even one of the five daily prayer sessions.

The event, dubbed “a brotherly cup of tea,” takes place between the first anniversary of the extremist attacks on the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine, Jan. 7, and Jan. 11, which is the anniversary of the day millions of people took to the streets to show solidarity with the victims of those attacks.