Broken windows have been replaced by cardboard boxes.
Inside, everything has been cleaned.
But the trauma remains.
"How can you go after a place of prayer?"
asks a devotee, shocked.
This Wednesday, a little after 6 a.m., at least two individuals driving a car deliberately crashed into the gate of the Brétigny-sur-Orge mosque.
Once inside the enclosure, they backed up, this time breaking down the main entrance door to the place of worship.
“With a fire extinguisher, they sprinkled everywhere inside, says, disgusted, Mahmoud Boudokhane, the former secretary of the cultural association of Muslims of Brétigny-sur-Orge, who went there after the facts.
A night worker passed by at this time.
When the men saw him, they fled.
He just had time to note the model of the car. ”
An investigation is underway
The police came to see the damage mainly in the entrance and in the men's prayer room.
The whole interior could be cleaned.
"Fortunately, we made them flee.
If they had stayed longer, the damage would have been much greater, we keep a lot of fragile things as well as electronic equipment ”, continues Mahmoud Boudokhane.
A complaint was filed this afternoon with the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois police station.
The mayor (UDI) Nicolas Méary, whom we had not managed to reach at midday, also went there in the morning.
"At this stage we do not know the reasons for this intrusion and these degradations, the vehicle which broke the portal would have been found set on fire in a neighboring town," he explains on the town's Facebook account.
The investigation is ongoing.
Whatever the reasons, these degradations are first and foremost suffering for the members of the Muslim community in Brétigny.
We were delighted last year to be able to open our Church of St. Peter and the Mosque of Peace at the same time on the occasion of Heritage Days.
It is this state of mind that must endure. ”
"This is an attack"
For his part, Steevy Gustave, leader of the opposition (EELV) is not surprised by this attack on the mosque.
“Unfortunately, this is a continuation of a deleterious climate that has settled in Brétigny,” he regrets.
We cannot allow racist speech to be trivialized, which I myself suffered
(Editor's note: during the election campaign, he was targeted by a racist tag inscribed on the porch of his house)
.
I have repeatedly sounded the alarm. ”
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For Mahmoud Boudokhane, who specifies speaking in his own name, “this is an attack”.
Luckily, there were no injuries or deaths, but it remains a terrorist act, he believes.
I condemn any act of violence, there is no justification for attacking a church, a synagogue or a mosque.
We are here to explain to our faithful what Islam is, so that they become good Muslims.
And fools are doing everything to make mosques close. ”
