French far-right activists charged over mosque protest
Published on Monday, 22 October 2012 23:37 Written by AFP
Four far-right activists who led a weekend occupation of an unfinished mosque at Poitiers in central France were charged Monday with offences including incitement of racial hatred.
All four were also charged with organising an illegal demonstration and three of the men were indicted for theft and causing criminal damage in relation to the removal of prayer mats from the mosque.
The latter charges carry potential prison terms of up to five years.
The four men led a protest involving around 70 activists who occupied the mosque site on the edge of the town for several hours on Saturday before being persuaded to leave by police.
During their time on the roof of the mosque, they unfurled two banners. One identified their organisation, Generation Identitaire, the other referred to the 732 Battle of Poitiers, in which the Frankish leader Charles Martel is credited with having prevented an Arab conquest of western Europe.
Poitiers is a town of around 90,000 people with an Islamic population of around 8,000.
Credit: Expatica