ANNECY, March 6: French Muslim leaders were up in arms on Saturday over two arson attacks on mosques in eastern France, criticizing the political establishment for failing to attend a silent protest demonstration here.

Around 250 people staged the silent protest in this eastern city a day after the two area mosques were attacked.

One fire totally devastated an 80-square metre prayer room in nearby Seynod, while the other seriously damaged the heating system at the mosque in Annecy.

"No leading political figure came," Kamel Kabtane, a local Muslim community leader, told the demonstrators massed outside the Annecy mosque.

The French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM) described the attacks as "unspeakable racist and anti-Islamic" and its president, Dalil Boubakeur, warned that such acts "can only worsen the sensitive religious climate".-AFP