Pig heads dumped at Moroccan ambassador’s home amid anti-Muslim hate crime spike in France
Two pigs' heads have been found outside the Moroccan ambassador’s residence in a Paris suburb, sparking a police investigation into yet another alleged case of provocative hate crime amid growing anti-Muslim sentiment in France.
The animals’ severed heads were left hanging on the fence outside the ambassador’s premises located in Neuilly-sur-Seine to the west of Paris.
“The pig's heads were discovered by security staff on Thursday at 9:00am. The ambassador was present,” a police source told AFP.
The embassy filed an official complaint, but warned against jumping to conclusions.
“We don’t want to interpret this act, it’s up to the authorities to investigate,” an embassy official said.
The head of the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) and the Morocco-linked Group of Muslims in France (RMF), Anouar Kbibech, called the attack a “desecration” and a “provocation” which has “moved up a level.”
Kbibech believes an “unhealthy atmosphere” reigns in France, “in which Muslims are the target of acts of stigmatization.”
The incident should be classified as a hate crime, an international political consultant Cecile le Roux told RT, calling it “an insult in very poor taste”.
“It must have been a very shocking sight indeed,” she added.
Incidents involving pigs’ heads are not unusual. In the past few years pigs’ heads have been discovered in several cities across France and frequently found outside of mosques.
Anti-Muslim sentiment has been running high in the French population after the November terror attacks in Paris claimed the lives of more than 130 people.
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Hate crimes against Muslims in France have tripled since the terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo magazine in January 2015. More than 400 incidents of an “Islamophobic” nature were recorded by authorities in 2015, compared to 133 reported the previous year.
