Nadine Osman
The French Ministry of the Interior has reported a staggering 88% surge in anti-Muslim acts in 2025, marking the steepest rise among all religious communities despite the overall number of anti-religious incidents nationwide remaining broadly stable. In its annual assessment published on February 12, the ministry recorded 2,489 anti-religious acts, a figure described as similar to that observed in 2024. However, within that total, the data reveals a sharp and alarming divergence.
Authorities registered 326 anti-Muslim acts, representing 13% of all incidents. Crucially, the ministry noted that 64% of these involved physical or verbal assaults and online hate speech, indicating a rise not only in the frequency of attacks but also in their severity. By comparison, antisemitic acts, which remains the largest category, declined by 16% to 1,320 cases, while anti-Christian acts increased by 9% to 843 cases.
Reacting to the figures, representatives of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) described the increase as deeply troubling, calling it an alarm signal for the Republic and asserting that French Muslims must be able to practise their faith freely and safely without fear of aggression. The CFCM also cautioned that official figures likely underestimate the true scale of hostility, as many victims do not file complaints due to discouragement or mistrust of the system. Similarly, the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en Europe (CCIE) argued that the rise reflects a climate that has gradually normalised hostility toward Muslims through the trivialisation of anti-Muslim rhetoric in public debate.
Beyond the statistics, several high-profile incidents in 2025 have intensified concern within the community. In April 22-year-old Aboubakar Cissé was tragically stabbed to death inside a mosque in La Grand-Combe while preparing for prayers. In June, a copy of the Qur’an was burned inside the Errahma Mosque in Villeurbanne, and the El Hidaya Mosque in Roussillon was vandalised by masked individuals who smashed windows and scattered hate-filled leaflets. Later in the year, mosques in Jargeau and Montpellier were defaced with hostile graffiti, prompting the CFCM to warn of a wave of anti-Muslim hatred that ranges from symbolic desecration to fatal violence.
The Interior Ministry stressed that these figures reflect recorded complaints rather than exhaustive statistics, while advocacy groups warned that visibly Muslim women are disproportionately targeted in public spaces. Several analysts linked the spike to a polarised national climate shaped by debates over secularism, migration, and security legislation.
While President Emmanuel Macron has announced national forums to strengthen the prevention of anti-religious hatred and the state has allocated nearly €48 million over the past decade to secure places of worship, community leaders argue that the dramatic escalation faced by Muslims requires more than just general stability in national figures. As a CFCM representative summarised, equality before the law must mean equal protection in practice.
Feature photo: Hundreds gather at Place de la République in Paris on May 1, 2025, to protest Islamophobia following the killing of Aboubakar Cissé inside a mosque— one of several high-profile incidents that intensified concern as France’s Interior Ministry later reported a sharp rise in anti-Muslim acts in its latest annual figures. (Credit: Esra Taşkın/AA)
