There has been a sharp rise in anti-Muslim and Islamophophic attacks in France in the wake of the terror attacks carried out in Paris January 5-7, when 20 people, including three terrorists, were killed, a monitoring body said.
The Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) said in a report, on Wednesday, that attacks between January 7 and February 7 were up 70 percent compared with the same period in 2014.
In the month period reported, 153 anti-Islamic acts were perpetrated throughout France, including 30 attacks against Islamic sites, mainly mosques, and there were ten physical attacks against Muslims here. There was also a huge increase in the level of discriminatory insults and verbal threats from January-to-February, the report said.
The large increase in attacks over a single month compares with 764 anti-Islamic attacks for all of 2014, which itself represented a 10 percent increase over 2013.
The CCIF said that its annual report for 2014 showed that 77 percent of anti-Muslim acts were discrimination and the most of these took place in French institutions.
Moreover, 81.5 per of victims were women and most physical attacks, numbering 22 in 2014, were also against women "We observe, with disappointment and concern, that there is an enormous disconnect between the official line which wants to be reassuring and bring people together, and the reality on the ground," the report remarked.
The CCIF warned that amalgams and prejudice regarding Muslims have been stronger than ever and are leading more and more to violence or more frequent discrimination.
The report urged the French authorities to assume their responsibilities and make the fight against racism and anti-Islamic behaviour one of the priorities in 2015.