PARIS: At least nine pigs’ heads were found outside several mosques in the Paris region on Tuesday, the city’s police chief said — an incident that has sparked alarm over rising anti-Muslim hatred.
“Pigs’ heads have been left in front of certain mosques... Four in Paris and five in the inner suburbs,” Laurent Nunez told a press conference, adding that officers were not “ruling out the possibility of finding more”.
Police have opened a probe into incitement to hatred aggravated by racial or religious discrimination, Nunez said, calling the acts “despicable”.
The consumption of pork is considered haram — forbidden in Islam — as the meat is believed to be impure. Several of the heads had the surname of President Emmanuel Macron scrawled on them in blue ink, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
Nunez said there could be parallels with past incidents linked to “foreign interference” but urged “extreme caution”. In early June, three Serbs were charged over the vandalism of Jewish sites in a case investigators suspect was backed by Russia.
France is home to the largest Muslim community in the European Union, as well as the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States. Several EU nations have reported a spike in “anti-Muslim hatred” and antisemitism since the Gaza conflict started in October 2023, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
Anti-Muslim incidents in France rose by 75 percent between January and May 2025 compared with a year earlier, with attacks on individuals tripling, the interior ministry said in July.
The incidents around Paris drew swift condemnation from political and community leaders. Macron met with representatives of the Muslim community in the capital following the incident to express his “support”, his office said.
Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2025
