Although anti-Christian attacks and incidents are fairly common in France, the month of March was even more drastic than usual, according to the Gatestone Institute, which recently published a new report. Having partially summed up the data for March, the picture is shocking.
On March 5, police foiled an Islamist plot to bomb the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and authorities arrested a 62-year-old Muslim man of Egyptian descent. The report notes that this is just one of a series of planned and foiled terrorist attacks, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin:
Never before have so many attacks been thwarted in France, with the Islamic State having been behind the last eight thwarted attempts in France.
On March 5, authorities arrested another 62-year-old man "clearly committed to jihadist ideology", and on March 8 he was charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and "planning an act of violence in a Catholic religious building".
On March 30, on Easter Eve, an illegal Muslim immigrant from Senegal with a criminal record was arrested for advocating terrorism and threatening to set fire to the church of Notre Dame de la Voie in Athis Mons, Essonne. According to a report,
he entered the church shortly before 7 pm, where he accosted a worshipper, describing himself as a Muslim man. He told him that he saw visions and warned that the religious building would burn down in three months, and then left.
When arrested by police near another church, the Muslim man said he was just joking.
On March 28, a Muslim man of Albanian descent walked into a church while mass was in progress, and began shouting "Allahu Akbar".
On March 10, the chapel of Notre Dame de Partout in Saint-Mesin was found to have been painted with several Muslim inscriptions, including "repent", "final warning" and "the cross will be broken". The cross opposite the chapel was also damaged. The next day, in the nearby village of Clermont d'Excideuil boasting a population of just a few hundred, other churches and crosses were vandalized, just as the graveyard. According to one report,
officers found Islamic inscriptions on the graves, a war memorial, a church door, a calvary monument and a fountain. Some inscriptions read: "France is now Allah's", "Isa [Jesus] is breaking the cross" and "Obey Islam".
In total, more than 50 graves were damaged by scrawls and scribbles. Two of the graves were spray-painted with the letters 'GWER'. The term "gwer" refers to a white man, a Western man or a non-Muslim. On another grave, the term "Kouffar" was written, denoting infidels.
A local resident said these threatening messages have sent chills down his spine. "This is quite a trauma for our community," he said.
Since the beginning of the year, at least five other large public crosses (or calvary) have been marked with similar Islamic warnings and threats in France. "It's strange in such a small town," said the mayor of Clermont d'Excideuil, the target of the latest anti-Christian attack, adding: "I thought this could only happen elsewhere."
On March 1, around 40 gravestones were desecrated and vandalized in another cemetery in Freselines. On March 26, an important public cross that had stood for generations in the village of Lias was found broken into four pieces.
"Leila, 21, was planning to attack worshippers at a church in Beziers with a sword on Easter Day when she was arrested. She is currently on trial in Paris for conspiracy to commit terrorist offences," says another report, which adds that
police found photos of decapitated bodies and videos of beheadings and the preparation of acid bombs in her home.
The 21-year-old woman's notebook contained the following note:
I have an ever-increasing desire to go out into the street, slit the throat of the first person who walks by, drag his body into the woods, smash his skull with an iron bar or hammer, and then return to look for someone else. I've learned to cut throats, so it probably won't be a problem.
On March 12, another unknown woman, aged 39, burst into a church during morning mass, waving a knife and threatening worshippers. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and taken to the hospital. The church has been the scene of arson attacks and is located near an area where three teenagers once violently attacked two others with tear gas, calling them "dirty Christians".
Cover photo: Illustration (Photo: MTI/Zsolt Czegledi)
