French Muslims on alert after severed pig heads found at nine mosques

"On an early September morning, a pig's head, covered in blood, was discovered at the doorstep of the Javel mosque in the heart of Paris. On it, a name had been scrawled in blue ink: Macron. A couple of kilometres (about a mile) from the Eiffel Tower, the mosque is a place of worship for a diverse community of Muslims with Lebanese, Algerian, Iranian and other roots, which has long coexisted with neighbours in a leafy district of the French capital."

"When police arrived, Benali learned that the Javel mosque was not the only one to have been targeted. In total, nine severed pig heads had been scattered on the doorsteps of mosques across Paris and its nearby suburbs, in what French authorities are investigating as an act of foreign interference. One cannot help but draw parallels with previous actions which have been proven to be acts of foreign interference, said Laurent Nunez, Paris's police prefect, at a news conference."

"According to the Paris prosecutor's office, two individuals driving a car with Serbian licence plates approached a farmer in the northern region of Normandy to buy about 10 pig's heads on the evening of Monday, September 8. CCTV footage later shows them arriving in Paris's Oberkampf neighbourhood. After depositing the pigs' heads in front of the nine mosques, the vehicle then crossed the French border with Belgium early on Tuesday."

Severed pig heads were placed on the doorsteps of nine mosques across Paris and nearby suburbs, including one at the Javel mosque bearing the name "Macron" scrawled in blue ink. Worshippers discovered the desecrations during dawn prayer and reported shock and distress. The targeted mosque serves a diverse Muslim community with Lebanese, Algerian, Iranian and other roots. French authorities opened an investigation into possible foreign interference. Police traced purchases of the pig heads to two individuals in a car with Serbian licence plates who bought heads in Normandy, deposited them in Paris, then crossed into Belgium.

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