Alwaght- A Muslim prayer has been ransacked and copies of the Quran burnt on the French island of Corsica in yet another indicator of increasing Islamophobia Western countries.
Tensions had mounted in Ajaccio Friday after two firefighters and a police officer were injured overnight in a low-income neighborhood of the city when they were "ambushed" by "several hooded youths", authorities said.
Local media reports say on Friday afternoon around 150 people had gathered in front of the prefecture in a show of support for the police and firefighters, officials said in a statement.
But some in that crowd broke away and headed for the low-income housing estate where the violence took place the night before.
They shouted slogans in Corsican meaning "Arabs get out!" or "This is our home!".
Nearby was the Muslim prayer room and a small group smashed the glass door and entered the place of worship, ransacking the room and partially burning books including copies of the Quran, said regional official Francois Lalanne.
Meanwhile Around 100 people marched in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio on Saturday, shouting anti-Muslim slogans.
The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) and its monitor of Islamophobia denounced the violence and pointed to the timing of the attack on Friday "on a day of prayer for both Muslims and Christians".
This year Christmas came just a day after Muslims commemorated the birth of the Prophet Mohammed SAW.
Anti-Muslim sentiment is rising in France and several Western countries in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino California. The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the violence in the French capital while a couple suspected to be sympathetic to ISIS reportedly carried out the California attack.
Corsica, a small Mediterranean island, has a long history of nationalistic movements, which occasionally lead to violence. Anti-immigrant and nationalist parties performed well during last month's regional election, giving the department its first-ever nationalist government.
