01:07France: Anti-Arab protesters rally in Ajaccio following ban on demonstrations
Hundreds of anti-Arab protesters rallied outside a local government building in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio, Sunday, following a ban on demonstrations imposed by the prefecture.
The ban on demonstrations was imposed following two nights of alleged attacks on firefighters in an Arab-majority neighbourhood of Ajaccio on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Those incidents in turn provoked a racist backlash against Arab and immigrant communities, with Corsican nationalists attacking Arab and migrant homes, businesses, and religious sites.
On Friday, protesters shouting racist slogans vandalised a Muslim prayer hall and burned copies of the Qoran, in an attack French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said showed signs of "racism and xenophobia."
The ban on demonstrations is to remain in effect until January 4.
01:07Hundreds of anti-Arab protesters rallied outside a local government building in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio, Sunday, following a ban on demonstrations imposed by the prefecture.
The ban on demonstrations was imposed following two nights of alleged attacks on firefighters in an Arab-majority neighbourhood of Ajaccio on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Those incidents in turn provoked a racist backlash against Arab and immigrant communities, with Corsican nationalists attacking Arab and migrant homes, businesses, and religious sites.
On Friday, protesters shouting racist slogans vandalised a Muslim prayer hall and burned copies of the Qoran, in an attack French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said showed signs of "racism and xenophobia."
The ban on demonstrations is to remain in effect until January 4.