Swastikas, racist graffiti smeared on French mosque
By DPA, IANSMonday, February 8, 2010
PARIS - Swastikas and racist and anti-Moslem graffiti were discovered Monday on the Great Mosque of the city of Saint-Etienne, French media reported.
About a dozen inscriptions, such as “Dirty Niggers”, “France for the French,” “No Arabs Here” and “We will get you” were scrawled on the mosque’s walls with the type of spray cans commonly used by graffiti artists.
The discovery came as several ministers of the French government met Prime Minister Francois Fillon to draw conclusions from the controversial nationwide debate on national identity the government has led for the past few months.
The debate, which has been slammed by opposition politicians as a political ploy, gave rise to a wave of anti-Islam declarations, by anonymous individuals on the website dedicated to the debate, as well as by several conservative politicians.
The umbrella body French Council of the Moslem Religion (CFCM), which reported the inscriptions, urged the government to set up a parliamentary commission to investigate the recent increase of anti-Moslem incidents.
