Anti-Muslim Graffiti Targets Closed Mosque in Paris Suburb, Two Arrested

"Mosque of teachers killers", "Justice for Samuel Paty", "I am Charlie". These are the words written in white spray paint on the fence of the Pantin mosque, currently closed for six months following a decision by the Ministry of the Interior, reports AFP. According to the details provided by the Bobigny prosecutor’s office, the two young people taken into custody were placed in police custody. As they were about to finish the tag "Islamism = fasci..", they were arrested around 4 a.m., details a source close to the investigation. On Saturday morning, city agents took care of erasing the tags.

"I am pleased that the individuals were apprehended. It is disappointing to see young people drawn into a mechanism that exceeds them. We are in an atmosphere that calls for vigilance in mosques," said M’hammed Henniche, head of the mosque, also president of the Muslim Federation of Pantin.

"The authors of these inscriptions dishonor the memory of Samuel Paty and all the victims of Islamism by considering that all Muslims are guilty," said Bertrand Kern, the PS mayor of Pantin, in a statement. He describes their act as "intolerable" and calls for unity, calm and determination.

The Pantin mosque had shared on its Facebook page on October 9 a video in which the father of a student from a college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) had criticized the course of Samuel Paty, beheaded on October 16. The history-geography teacher had shown his students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.