Bishop appeals for calm in Corsica after attack on Muslim prayer room

December 29, 2015

Bishop Olivier de Germay of Ajaccio, Corsica, called for calm after a Christmas Eve attack on two firefighters and the subsequent vandalism of a Muslim prayer room on Christmas Day.

On December 24, the firefighters were lured to a housing project with a large Arab population and were attacked. The following day, a crowd of 600 residents of Ajaccio gathered to show their support for the firefighters, but half marched on the housing project, vandalizing a Muslim prayer room and setting fire to books, including copies of the Quran.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France condemned the “intolerable attack” on the firefighters and the “unacceptable desecration” of the prayer room.

Bishop de Germay said in a statement that the attack on the firefighters was “unacceptable” and that the “emotion” of the residents of Ajaccio was “legitimate.” At the same time, he called upon residents not to blame the entire Muslim community for actions of “certain delinquents” who ought to be punished.

The attack on a “Muslim place of prayer can only engender a sentiment of injustice and incite hatred,” he added, as he called upon Corsicans to “preserve peace.”

 

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Further information:

• Guet-apens d’Ajaccio: préservons la paix (Diocese of Ajaccio)
• Muslim prayer hall in France damaged as violence continues (AP)
• Hundreds defy protest ban in Corsica after anti-Arab violence (France 24)