Paris: Protest against mosque rector

Paris: Protest against mosque rector

Collectif Cheikh Yassine posted videos of the protest (1, 2). 

If the Interior Minister is so determined to support Buobakeur it's unclear to me why the French police closed down the road and allowed a group named after a terrorist to publicly protest against him in the street.

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The Sheikh Yassin Group (Collectif Cheikh Yassine), named after the Hamas leader killed by the Israeli army in 2004, organized a demonstration last Friday in front of the Paris Great Mosque, demonstrating against rector Dalil Boubakeur.

The demonstration, which would have gone largely unnoticed, took a spectacular turn.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, the head of this radical anti-Zionist association, organized the protest to denounce Boubakeur's statements on Israel and the Israel-Palestinian conflict as 'unacceptable', as well as his dialogue with the Jewish community.

A small group of about thirty (very) young activists came to mosque, when Sefrioui was given an unexpected political stage.  The mosque security service blocked the entrance, about forty minutes before the Friday prayer, for fear of 'overflowing', and hundreds of faithful were forced to improvise their prayer outside, under surveillance of security agents.

The head of the group, visibly upset at the media-political exercise, emerged as the providential imam, starting an attack against Dalil Boubakeur by way of a religious prayer.
 
In front of an impassive crowd he accused Buobakeur of being on the side of the war criminals.  Once he finished his tirade, the prayer continued on as if nothing had happened.

The majority of believers didn't know why access to the mosque was refused.  Amin, a Parisian student said he just came to pray, but also added that Sefrioui spoke well.  Another says that Boubakeur is supposed to represent them, but that for some time they do not know which side he's on. 

Another Muslim says that he doesn't belong to any movement, but that finally there's somebody challenging Boubakeur.  He was placed there by Sarkozy and Algeria, but the community was unanimously against him.  

The rector of the Great Mosque of Paris will meet with the Minister of the Interior, Michèle Alliot-Marie, who is determined to support Boubakeur against the attacks of the radical Islam.

Source: Le Monde (French)

See also: France: UOIF attacks Jewish org

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