DESPICABLE - Vandals Scrawl Nazi Mark on Paris Mosque

PARIS - Vandals scrawled swastikas and other Nazi references on the walls of the Grand Mosque of Paris, the best-known Muslim religious site in France, religious leaders said Monday


The vandalism by unknown assailants, discovered Monday, comes as officials have stepped up security around Jewish and Muslim sites in France amid an increase in such attacks in recent years.


"This intolerable act of Islamophobia is a worrying symptom in the capital," Dalil Boubakeur, director of the Paris mosque, said in a statement.


The vandals, writing in what appeared to be ink from a black marker, scrawled about a dozen swastikas, other Nazi references and "Get Out" on the white walls around the imposing, decades-old mosque in southeastern Paris.


Mosque officials filed a complaint with local police, who were investigating the incident.


Also Monday, police in a northeastern Paris suburb were investigating a suspected arson attempt at a memorial honoring Jewish deportees from France during World War II.


Firefighters on Sunday extinguished a blaze that charred a wooden rail car at the memorial in Drancy, the site of a World War II transit camp used to deport thousands of Jews to Auschwitz.


A handwritten note found at the site referred to the little-known "Islamic group for Palestine" and carried the name "Bin Laden" on it next to a swastika.


"We have witnessed several demonstrations today that are anti-Semitic and racist," French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said during a visit to eastern France. He said the attacks were "completely unspeakable, completely ignominious."


France, home to western Europe's largest populations of both Jews and Muslims, has faced an upsurge in anti-Semitic and anti-Arab violence over the past several years.


The interior minister said earlier this month that neo-Nazi groups now count about 3,000 members in France, and were responsible for 65 violent acts in the country last year — up from 27 in 2003


A STUPID MINORITY, EUROPE is an ally to the muslim world but a minority of idiots try to spoil it

Dont know, for all their support on Iraq etc, I have always found the French not very "encouraging" to the minorities so this doesnt surprise me - I have always found UK, for all its faults to be a great place for migrants - the rest of Europe should learn from that

This anti-Islamism seems to be spreading across Europe - which is very worrying indeed.

Recently of course the French govt. disallowed girls to wear Islamic headwear at schools.