Over 10,000 people turned out north of Paris on Sunday for a march against Islamophobia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/span><\/p>\n Over 10,000 people turned out north of Paris on Sunday for a march against Islamophobia.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was called following last month’s attack on a mosque in the southern French city of Bayonne by an 84-year-old man, a former far-right activist, who shot and wounded two men.<\/p>\n Many of the protesters carried placards denouncing attacks on Islam, a number of women taking part wore traditional Muslim veils (Hijab), while others had adopted veils bearing the blue, white and red colors of the French flag.<\/p>\n Around 13,500 people attended the march, according to a count carried out by the Occurence consultancy and commissioned by the news media.<\/p>\n The march was called by a number of individuals and organizations, including the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF).<\/p>\n It also came as the debate over the veil has been revived in France and against a background of several extremist attacks in France in recent years.<\/p>\n “We came to sound the alarm, to say there is a level of hate you don’t go beyond,” one marcher, Larbi, a 35-year-old businessman, told AFP.<\/p>\n “We are open to criticism, but you mustn’t go beyond certain limits of aggression,” he added.<\/p>\n France has between five and six million Muslims, according to the latest studies, which makes it the second largest religion in the country — and the largest Muslim community in Western Europe.<\/p>\n But France is fiercely protective of the secular principles of its constitution, banning the wearing of religious symbols in state schools, for example.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over 10,000 people turned out north of Paris on Sunday for a march against Islamophobia.\u00a0 Over 10,000 people turned out north of Paris on Sunday for a march against Islamophobia.\u00a0 It was called following last month’s attack on a mosque in the southern French city of Bayonne by an 84-year-old man, a former far-right activist, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n