Thread: Muslim prayer hall attacked in Corsica

A crowd has vandalised a Muslim prayer hall in Corsica in apparent retaliation for an attack on firefighters in the French Mediterranean island.

Officials say a small group of protesters also tried to burn copies of the Koran in the capital, Ajaccio.

Overall, several hundred people gathered in the city to express support for two firefighters and a police officer injured on Thursday.

The government condemned both acts, pledging to punish the perpetrators.

'Unacceptable desecration'

On Friday, the crowd gathered in front of the prefecture in Ajaccio to show their solidarity with the firefighters.

Some protesters later marched to the scene of the attack on Thursday night - a poor neighbourhood in the capital.

They chanted "Arabs get out!" and "This is our home!", AFP news agency reports.

The demonstrators then attacked the local Muslim prayer room, ransacking it and partially burning books - including copies of the Koran.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the attack was "an unacceptable desecration".

The French Council of the Muslim Faith also denounced the violence.

In Thursday's incident, the firefighters were ambushed by "several hooded youths", French media report.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve pledged that the perpetrators of both the attack on the emergency services and the Muslim prayer hall would be identified and arrested.

Mr Cazeneuve also stressed that there was no place for "racism and xenophobia" in France.

France has beefed up security measures for the Christmas holidays, following the 13 November attacks in Paris by Islamic militants that left 130 people dead.

Protesters ransack Muslim prayer hall in Corsica | The Times of Israel

Muslim prayer hall attacked in Corsica - BBC News

Corsica seems to have more of an Italian attitude towards the invaders....
This video is from 2011, before this latest "refugee" crisis, but it is surprising to see the Italians seem to have more free speech rites than the other EU countries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxy2ma5s2eM

Demonstrations banned in Corsican district after Muslim prayer room attack

The top regional official on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica has announced a ban on demonstrations on the housing estate where a Muslim prayer room was trashed on Friday following an attack on police and firefighters.

About 100 people shouting "Arabs out!" and "We're still here!" demonstrated in the area on Saturday.

Corsica's Prefect Christophe Mirmand met representatives of the protesters in the regional capital Ajaccio on Saturday and asked them to stop "these movements and this demonstration that gives such a disastrous image of Corsica".

He later announced that he would ban protests in and around the Jardins de l'Empereur estate where the violence took place.

The members of the delegation told reporters they were satisfied with Mirmand's promise to post police in all areas of Ajaccio.

There was a heavy police presence on the estate when about 100 protesters arrived mid-afternoon before going to neighbouring districts.

One man smashed the glass doors of three apartment buildings but no other incidents were reported.

The estate has a bad reputation on an island with a history of organised crime but a low level of street-level criminality and the planned assault on firefighters by a small group angered many local people, some of whom are volunteers in a service that is called on to fight forest fires every summer.

Corsican nationalist youth groups have denied reports that they were involved in the protest that led to the attack on the prayer room, with the largest, Ghjuventu independista, joining politicians who have condemned all of the violence.

Following Saturday's statements by Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, right-wing former prime minister Alain Juppé called for "authority and firmness".

But the far-right Front National declared that there was a risk of "citizens" taking matters into their own hands when they have "the legitimate feeling that the government no longer enforces republican order".

Hard-left former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon linked the protests to the "ethnicist inebriation" of the Corsican nationalists and Corsica's "exacerbated nationalism and culture of violence".

His Communist Party allies declared it "incomprehensible that people demonstrate using racist and xenophobic phrases in Ajaccio while during the Cop21 [climate conference] environmental activists were arrested and some
placed under house arrest for supposed threats to public order".

Demonstrations banned in Corsican district after Muslim prayer room attack - FRANCE - RFI

Marseilles, France - A Wild West immigrant controlled drug & gun no go zone. Mayor begs for more police or army. Video clip from 2012, so with the current "refugee" influx, it can only be worse.

Europe is being filled with low life immigrants and there are no jobs for them. It is another open border, welfare state situation degenerating civilized societies and their lovely, history rich terrains - Mediterranean areas included.

Corsica march: Hundreds defy protest ban after Muslim prayer hall attack

Several hundred people have marched in Corsica, defying a ban on protests introduced after a Muslim prayer hall was vandalised on the French island.

They avoided going to the poor neighbourhood of Ajaccio where Friday's attack happened, instead rallying in other areas of the regional capital.

The prayer hall was raided by crowds in apparent retaliation for an attack on firefighters a day earlier.

Previous marches had seen participants shout: "Arabs get out!"

Some protesters blamed local Arab residents for the attack on the firefighters.

The French government condemned both the protests that followed and the anti-Muslim attack.

On Sunday, the demonstrators marched through several neighbourhoods in Ajaccio, but did not go to the Jardins de l'Empereur area - the scene of Friday's attack.

The authorities earlier announced a ban on all gatherings in the flashpoint area until at least 4 January.

The protesters rejected accusations that their rally was racist, chanting: "We fight against scum, not against Arabs!" and "We aren't thugs, we aren't racists!"

Police were deployed around the Jardins de l'Empereur, home to many immigrants, to prevent any clashes.

'Unacceptable desecration'

Friday's attack followed a solidarity rally with firefighters in Ajaccio.

But some protesters then attacked the Muslim prayer room, ransacking it and partially burning books - including copies of the Koran.

French Prime Minister said the attack was "an unacceptable desecration".

The French Council of the Muslim Faith also denounced the violence.

In Thursday's incident, the firefighters were ambushed by unidentified "hooded youths" with iron bars and baseball bats, French media report.

Two firefighters and a police officers were injured.

Interior Minister pledged that the perpetrators of both the attack on the emergency services and the Muslim prayer hall would be identified and arrested.

Mr Cazeneuve also stressed that there was no place for "racism and xenophobia" in France.

France has beefed up security measures for the Christmas holidays, following the 13 November attacks in Paris by Islamic militants that left 130 people dead.

Corsica march: Hundreds defy protest ban after Muslim prayer hall attack - BBC News

http://www.alipac.us/f13/%91arabs-ge...france-326781/