Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday for an anti-Islamophobia demonstration in Paris to pay tribute to the man who was brutally killed while praying in a mosque in the south of France a few days earlier.
The solidarity march brought together non -governmental organizations, political representatives and religious leaders who denounced what they have described as an Islamophobic atmosphere in France.
“We have a system, we have a state that is afraid, and it is this fear that we are facing head on,” said the activist Assa Traore.
Demonstrators have been seen by holding signs reading “Islamophobia kills, the state is an accomplice” and “Justice for Aboubakar”, the young worshiper killed on Friday.
The director general of the NGO SOS Racisme, Valentin Stel, has expressed his concern about an increasing trend he has observed in recent years.
“We have been witnessing a hate speech for years,” he said. “The speech of hatred targeting the Muslim community in France, saying that they are not entirely French or that their loyalty is questionable.”
Friday, a young man identified as Aboubakar was fatally stabbed by another man after finishing the mosque in the ancient mining town of the Grand Combe.
The aggressor, a man born in France in 2004 who lived in the region and who would never have been in the mosque before, recorded the stage on his phone. Images of security cameras have also shown insults to Allah, local media said. The two men were alone in the mosque.
French leaders condemned the attack, Prime Minister François Bayrou describing the attack as Islamophobic.
“We are on the shoulder with the victim's family and the shocked faithful,” he said. “State resources are mobilized to ensure that the murderer is captured and punished.”
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron stressed that “racism and hatred based on religion will never have room in France”.
“Religious freedom is inviolable,” he added.
The Minister of Justice Gerald Darmanin described the stab wounds as “contemptible murder” which “hurts the hearts of all believers, of all Muslims in France”.
The authorities said the suspect was still on the run on Sunday, but said that 70 investigators had been deployed and that the police were constantly working to arrest the man.
“We are particularly vigilant to ensure that he no longer claims victims,” said local prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini.
ADVERTISEMENTThe great mosque of Paris called on the authorities to investigate the grounds of the attack, asking the judicial authorities to specify whether the attack can be classified as a “terrorist act”. They also asked to note its “scale and seriousness … for the safety of all”.
