Officials of the El Imane association filed a complaint after the discovery last Friday of the tag of a swastika on the door of their Muslim prayer room, in the Fontaine d’Ouche district in Dijon. A few days after the first tag, another message indicating “Down with the fachos” was observed in the same place.
Friday, October 15, the tag of a swastika was discovered on the door of a Muslim prayer room, installed at the foot of a building in the Fontaine d’Ouche district in Dijon (Côte-d’Or). A week after the events, it is still the incomprehension and the concern which dominates within the association El Imane, which manages the room.
The tag was made in the middle of the day. “A person passing by around 3:45 p.m. found a swastika on the door”, says one of the managers of the association, whom we contacted this Friday, October 22. “The prayer room doesn’t hurt anyone. I don’t know why people came to draw this.”, he adds.
After the police found the facts, the tag was deleted by members of the association. A few days later, another message was discovered in the same place, still on the main door of the prayer room. “Down with the fascists” was it entered, as a response to the first tag. There too, the police moved, and then the words were erased.
Thursday, October 21, a complaint was filed for the two messages. Several anti-racist associations in Dijon * reacted the same day in a joint statement. “We, anti-racist associations, wish to express our anger and our serious concern at this racist act. Anger and concern at the rise in our country of racism and stigmatization of Muslims trivialized by certain media as well as by certain political statements and actions “, they indicate.
“The stigmatization of Muslims, the anti-Semitic placards in demonstrations are the two faces of the same racism which plagues our country. We hope that the culprit (s) of this act will indeed be prosecuted and punished and will call on the public authorities in this direction”, they add.
This is the first time that the association is targeted by such acts, according to its manager. “We never had any problems. We have a good image in the neighborhood”, he confides.
* The press release is signed by the League for Human Rights, SOS racisme, the Peace Movement, the France-Palestine Solidarity Association, Amnesty International Dijon, the French Jewish Union for Peace and the Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples.
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