French President Francois Hollande has promised a swift investigation into the blaze in which a Muslim prayer hall was badly damaged in Ajaccio, capital of the French island of Corsica. The prosecutors have said that the fire could be a “criminal attack.”
“If it is confirmed to be of criminal origin, those responsible must be rapidly identified and brought to justice,” Hollande said in a statement.
“Any anti-religious act must not be tolerated.”
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve issued a statement on Saturday expressing "solidarity with the Muslims of Corsica".
He also spoke about the "commitment of the government to protect all places of worship and to ensure freedom of worship throughout the territory".
The blaze comes just months after a separate Muslim prayer hall in Ajaccio was ransacked by a mob. Protests erupted on the French island after firefighters were attacked on Christmas Day last year while responding to an emergency call from a deprived district of the city.
Demonstrators reportedly shouted slogans such as “Arabs get out” and some of the crowd vandalized the prayer hall and set fire to books including copies of the Qur’an.
Several anti-Muslim attacks occurred in the weeks following the incident, including an attack on a Muslim butcher’s shop.
Following Saturday’s blaze, Ajaccio mayor Laurent Marcangeli told iTELE news channel: “This is unacceptable. Those sites are not sufficiently protected.”
Abdallah Zekri, the head of the “National Observatory Against Islamophobia” told AFP that authorities should “do everything to shed light on this incident in order to avoid an escalation of violence.”
"It has been calm since the end of the year, but unfortunately certain ill-intentioned people want to inflame the situation," he added.
In December, France saw the far-right Front National win the first round of its regional elections in Corsica for the first time.
The party was, however, largely defeated in a second round of run-off voting after widespread tactical voting by supporters of other parties.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) condemned Saturday's alleged arson attack on a mosque in Ajaccio.
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