False call to prayer has provoked an attack on a mosque –
November 20, 2009 – 2:00 am
early on Saturday, November 7, residents of the quiet district of Geneva Petit Saconnex woke azan – call to prayer. But he came not from the minaret of the local mosque, and from vehicle-mounted loudspeaker.
The car belonged to the right organization Jeunes identitaires genevois (JIG), chosen a Saturday because it was on this day Muslims in the mosques of the country held “open day”, wrote “Tribune de Genève”.
Stock Muslims, held three weeks before a national referendum on the question of the admissibility of the ban on the construction of minarets, by strange coincidence, matched with the days of Eid al-Adha (Kurban Bayram), was aimed at overcoming phobias and prejudices against Islam. The aim of the action right, as they claim, was to inform people.
“We want to show that if the initiative [to ban construction of minarets] is rejected, we have de facto accept the fact that a few years, such appeals will be heard throughout Switzerland, “- said the representative of the JIG in an interview with” Le Matin “.
It should be noted that the right, gently words, exaggerate, what hastened to assure the citizens of the country’s president Hans-Rudolf Merz. “Muslims should be able to practice their religion, including access to minarets in Switzerland. But here muezzin sound the call will not “- quoted words of a television address to the nation,” Talk Islam “.
However, the effects of provocative actions not long in coming: the same night the mosque in Petit-Saconnex stoned. There were broken windows, damaged the shutters, wooden door, and even a stone canopy over the porch. Police claimed the scene a few kilograms of stones, to check fingerprints and DNA, said the imam of the Islamic Cultural Center Josef Abram.
This is the first attack on the mosque for 30 years, said the imam. Now at night it will be on duty security guard, wrote “Romandie”.
