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Muslims in Paris gathered on Friday to answer the call by Muslim leaders to condemn the “barbarism” of the Islamic State (IS), as flags all over France flew at half-mast after the beheading of a French citizen.
Muslims in the country rallied to denounce the execution of Herve Gourdel, a 55-year-old mountaineer, this week by extremists in Algeria with ties to IS, as France mourned the brutal beheading.
“We French Muslims say stop to barbarism, stop to terrorism”, Dalil Boubakeur , the head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, said at the gathering outside the main mosque in Paris. He also said that the demonstration was “a vibrant expression of our desire for national unity and of our unwavering will to live together”.
“Islam is a religion of peace”, he said, adding that it “orders respect for life”.
Muslim leaders also signed a message advertised in French newspapers on Friday condemning “atrocities committed in the name of a murderous ideology hiding behind the Islamic religion”.
“We are also the ‘filthy French’”, the statement read, referring to the description the IS had used.
Gourdel was abducted on Sunday by Algerian group Jund al-Khilifa shortly after the IS had called for Muslims all over the world to kill citizens from nations that are a part of the US-led coalition against the group, “especially the spiteful and filthy French”.
The threat had sparked concern in France, with French authorities strengthening security on transport and in public places since. The French foreign ministry has also widened its alert for French citizens abroad in around 30-40 countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
France has repeatedly stated that it refuses to be intimidated by the IS. The French government had on Thursday announced that air strikes had been conducted in Iraq.
