By IINA,
Paris : French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday joined Muslim groups in condemning attackers who set fire to a mosque in a Lyon suburb, and hundreds gathered outside the building to protest against racism and Islamophobia. The fire at the mosque in the Saint-Priest suburb of the city of Lyon was started early Saturday before morning prayers and caused damage to the entrance, walls and religious books before being put out. Police were investigating the fire but had not yet found who was responsible, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said.
Sarkozy denounced the “shameful and racist” incident and called for the perpetrators to be found quickly and punished. Islamic groups and politicians condemned the attack as a “despicable” and “criminal” act. Organizers of the demonstration said some 3,000 people of different religions gathered outside the mosque, while police said they estimated the number at around 600, news agencies reported. “This mobilization shows the will of the Muslim community not to accept being treated in this way any longer and to respond each time,” Kamil Qabtan, head of Lyon’s Grand Mosque, told the demonstrators. While condemning the attack, Kamil Qabtan voiced concern over the rising trend of Islamophobia in France.
President of the French Council of Muslims Mohammad Mousawi, issued a statement condemning arson attack on the mosque. In his statement, Mousawi called on French authorities to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. He said that the arson attack was an affront to all French Muslims and that the French police ought to do everything in their power to ensure that the culprits will be arrested.
Azzedine Gacci, president of the Muslim regional council, said there had been some 10 “Islamophobic acts” in the last two years and called for a national demonstration by all religions and for Islamophobia to be condemned alongside anti-Semitism and racism. Saturday’s arson attack on the mosque damaged copies of the holy Quran and other religious books. The mosque building also suffered minor damage to its entrance. Hundreds of tombstones in the Muslim part of a military cemetery near the northern French town of Arras were damaged earlier this month in the third such attack on the site in less than two years.