Pig feet used in mosque attack
Head of mosque in Castres says the debate on national identity and minarets has fuelled anti-Muslim sentiment
VANDALS have attacked a mosque in the south of France, leaving xenophobic messages on the walls and pigs' feet and ears at the entrance.
Police were called to the place of worship in Castres, in the Tarn, on Sunday morning. They found swastikas drawn on the outside wall along with messages including: "Sieg heil", "La France aux Français" and "White power".
The attackers had hung pigs' feet from the door handle and attached pigs' ears to the door. The president of the town's Muslim Association said the vandals had not got inside the building.
The head of the mosque said there was a growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the area, fuelled by the government's debate on national identity and discussions in the media about whether France should follow Switzerland in banning minarets.
The mosque has been open for more than 20 years and cannot fit all of the 350 people from around Castres who come to worship. There are plans to build a new mosque in the area within the next three years.
The prefect of the Tarn department visited the site on Sunday to meet local Muslims. The SOS Racisme campaign group said the attack was deplorable and wrongly assumed that a practising Muslim could not also be a French citizen.
