France fears religious war after church attack

(Baonghean.vn) - French Muslim leaders today (July 27) called on the government to increase security at places of worship after extremists attacked a church in the Normandy region and killed a priest.

People pray outside Saint-Etienne church after a priest was beheaded. Photo AFP

"We want more attention to security in places of worship," Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur said after meeting President Francois Hollande.

Muslim leader Boubakeur expressed "deep sorrow" after the attack, which he described as an act of "blasphemy against all the teachings of Islam."

Mr Hollande held a meeting with leaders of France's main religions a day after two attackers stormed a church in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during morning mass, taking five hostages and killing 86-year-old priest Jacques Hamel.

French officials have previously expressed concerns about a religious war following the attack on the church. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on July 26 that the aim of the recent action was to "provoke a religious war in France".

"By attacking a priest, in a Catholic church, the terrorists' goal is to turn the French against each other," Mr Valls told the Irish Times.

In fact, the French have begun to call for Islamophobia following the recent audacious attack. Marion Le Pen, niece of Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-left National Front, wrote on social media: “In the West as in the East, Catholics must stand up to Islam.”

The latest attack on the Normandy church came less than two weeks after French citizen of Tunisian origin Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a truck into a crowd in the city of Nice, killing 84 people and injuring 300 others./.

Thanh Huyen

(According to Independent, AFP)