Pig's heads left outside mosques in French capital in anti-Muslim attack

Pig heads were left outside six mosques in and around the French capital on Tuesday morning, in what appeared to be a coordinated anti-Muslim attack. 

The pig heads were discovered on roads in Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Hauts-de-Seine, according to Le Monde and AFP. 

In the Paris suburb of Montreuil, a pig head was found in front of the entrance to the Islah mosque, the state representative of Seine-Saint-Denis told local media. 

Pigs are considered to be unclean in Islam, and therefore Muslims do not consume pork. 

Paris’ police chief said an investigation was immediately opened and that “everything was being done to find the perpetrators of these despicable acts”. 

"My full support goes to the leaders and worshippers of the mosques affected by these unbearable provocations. Attacking places of worship is unfathomably cowardly," said French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. 

"The Republic is secular. But secularism is precisely the conditions for freedom so that everyone can practice… as they choose. And I intend for our Muslim compatriots to be able to practice their faith in peace," he added.

Citing police sources, Le Figaro reported that President Emmanuel Macron’s name was painted on one of the pig’s heads. 

Aurore Berge, France’s minister against discrimination, said she spoke with the rector of Paris’ Grand Mosque to express the government’s solidarity with Muslims. 

The mosque described the attacks as a “sad stage” for anti-Muslim hatred to reach in the country.

"Faced with these despicable acts, the City of Paris is taking legal action," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Instagram.

Rise in anti-Muslim attacks

There are between five and six million Muslims in France, making it the country’s second biggest religion. 

The interior ministry reported in July that anti-Muslim acts rose by 75 percent year on year. 

It said that in the first five months of the year, 145 anti-Muslim acts were recorded, compared to 83 over the same period the previous year. Anti-Muslim attacks on individuals tripled during that period. 

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Between January and May, 504 antisemitic attacks were also recorded, continuing a surge in such attacks since Israel's genocide in Gaza began in October 2023. 

Tuesday’s incident was not the first anti-Muslim act in France involving pig’s heads. 

In May, a Muslim family in Lorient found a pig’s head on their doorstep and sausages put through their letterbox. 

At the time, Damien Girard, the Green Party MP for Lorient, accused the interior minister of having "opened Pandora's box and created all this violence by making Islam a scapegoat for political purposes".

"When Bruno Retailleau makes his fight against the veil the heart of his political commitment, when he wants to remove it from sports and universities, and when he chants 'Down with the veil!', he is fostering a climate of hatred towards the Muslim community, dragging the entire right wing with him into a dangerous trivialisation of Islamophobic violence."

A pig’s head was also left outside the home of a Muslim man in Biol, Isere, on 7 October last year, and outside a mosque in Pont-Saint-Esprit, in the Gard department, two months later. 

In April, in a small mosque in Trescol, southern France, a 23-year-old Malian man was stabbed to death whilst in prayer. In a video posted on Snapchat, the killer proudly claimed responsibility for his crime, saying: "Your shitty Allah, your shitty Allah."