PARIS, March 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Racist attacks against the Muslim minority and Islamic places in France increased dramatically last year, according to a report by an independent French human rights commission.

“Racist and anti-Muslim acts doubled by a mind-boggling 251% in 2004, compared to 2003, far exceeding attacks against followers of other faiths,” said the National Consultative Human Rights Commission report.

“French citizens of north African origin took the brunt of the attacks,” said the report, citing some 595 assaults against the minority in 2004 compared to 232 attacks in 2003.

The report cited a series of attacks against Islamic places and French Muslims, such as splashing swastikas across a mosque’s walls in the French city of Lille in August last year and a vicious assault on a hijab-clad woman in December.

The southern island of Corsica was the scene of most of the racist attacks against French Muslims in 2004, according to the report.

On December 27, a mosque of Sanacotra factory in Hauts de Bodiccione city in the island came under a Molotov attack.

The attack came a few weeks after an assassination attempt on the life of Mohamed Al-Atrash, a mosque imam in Sartene, southern Corsica.

Some 20,000 Muslims, or ten per cent of the population, live in Corsica. The island has 15 prayer rooms.

A swastika drawn on the Paris Mosque.

The report held France’s right wing accountable for the rising discrimination, particularly against Muslims.

“It is crystal clear that the right-wing groups are primarily targeting Arabs and Muslims rather than Jews.”

The report attributed the hatred to the prevailing stereotypes and misconceptions on Islam and immigrants.

“The racist acts against Muslims, Africans and Jews hit around 1565 attacks in 2004 against 833 in 2003,” it said.

It noted that the ongoing national debate in France on the concepts of immigration and secularism as well as Turkey’s bid to join the expanding European Union fanned the racist attacks against Muslims.

The political turmoil in the Middle East also took its toll on France vis-à-vis “anti-Semitism.”

Of 209 people arrested for carrying out “anti-Semitic” acts, 104 were Arabs and Muslims.

The commission, which also reports to the government, urged French authorities to take immediate action to bring to an end to the phenomenon, which endangers the country’s stability and security.