KABUL: (MEP) A group of demonstrators ransacked a Muslim prayer hall on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica and set fire to copies of the Holy Qur’an on Friday, police said.
The crowd of people damaged the prayer room in the city of Ajaccio, according to officials.
Tensions had mounted in Ajaccio on Christmas Day after two firefighters and a police officer were wounded overnight in Jardins de L’Empereur, a low-income neighbourhood of the city when they were “ambushed” by “several hooded youths”, authorities said.
On Friday afternoon around 150 people had gathered in front of police headquarters in the island’s capital in a show of support for the police and firefighters, officials said in a statement.
“Fifty prayer books were thrown out on the street,” AFP quoted Lalanne as saying, adding that some of the books were burnt.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls denounced the attack, calling it an unacceptable sacrilege of a Muslim place of prayer.
Police were to remain present on the housing estate overnight on Friday, with a security presence around five Muslim places of worship in Ajaccio, Lalanne told AFP.
Anti-Muslim sentiments are on the rise in France after the November 13 Daesh attacks in Paris killed 130 people.
