French Muslims complain of assault rise after Paris Attacks
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PARIS: Anti-Muslim incidents including attacks on women and hateful graffiti have flared up across France in the week since Islamist militants killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13, two monitoring groups said on Friday. The National Observatory of Islamophobia, a group linked to France's official Muslim council, reported 32 anti-Muslim incidents during the week. It normally registers 4-5 complaints by aggrieved Muslims in a week, its head Abdallah Zekri said. The Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), an independent organization, said it had tracked 29 incidents. The Observatory registered 178 anti-Muslim incidents in January, a month marked by the Islamist militant attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket. France's five million-strong Muslim minority is Europe's largest and makes up about eight percent of the population. Zekri said he expected more incidents in coming weeks because last week's attacks had encouraged "ultra-nationalist groups, the extreme right and racists" to target Muslims. "They take advantage of this atmosphere to lash out," he said. CCIF's spokesman Yasser Louati said his office was inundated with reports and complaints from Muslims as well as calls asking for advice on whether it was safe to send children to school. Reference Source: Reuters