Mosque and Turkish Associations in Eastern France Vandalized with Nationalist Symbols

This is the Philippe Grenier mosque and the headquarters of the Association of Turks of Pontarlier, victims of an Islamophobic act through the use of a symbol traditionally attributed to Gaullism and the Resistance, reports the Besançon prosecutor’s office.

In total, six Lorraine crosses were traced with a red spray on the walls of the mosque, specifies the judge, adding that the same tags were found on the building of the Association of Franco-Turkish Friendship of Montlebon, near Morteau, about thirty kilometers north of Pontarlier.

"We strongly condemn this provocation," said Abdallah Zekri, president of the National Observatory for the Fight against Islamophobia. Words echoed by Boubaker Lamamra, president of the mosque, who stressed that the use of the Lorraine cross could mean "we resist Islam".