Elham Asaad Buaras
Foreign nationals are believed to be behind the desecration of nine mosques in Paris and its suburbs, where severed pigs’ heads were discovered on September 9 in what officials and community leaders condemned as a grotesque act of Islamophobia. Several of the heads were marked with the surname of President Emmanuel Macron.
Investigators said the perpetrators bought a dozen pig heads from a Normandy farmer and transported them to Paris in a car with Serbian plates. Surveillance footage captured the same vehicle depositing the heads at several mosques before the suspects fled to Belgium; their movements were traced via a Croatian phone number.
Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez confirmed nine mosques were targeted: four in the capital and five in suburbs including Montreuil and Malakoff. At a press conference, President Macron confirmed the incidents, stating investigators were not “ruling out the possibility of finding more.” The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a probe into “incitement to hatred” and “serving the interests of a foreign power.”
Photo: Mosquée El Islah, Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, one of nine mosques in Paris and its suburbs desecrated with severed pigs’ heads, discovered on September 9. (Credit: Wikimedia)
President Macron said, “Pigs’ heads have been left in front of certain mosques… Four in Paris and five in the inner suburbs.” He added that investigators were not “ruling out the possibility of finding more.”
The acts are deeply symbolic and provocative, as pork is considered impure in Islam. They follow a sharp rise in anti-Muslim sentiment, with government data showing a 75 per cent increase in incidents in the first five months of 2025 compared to the previous year.
Photo: Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau condemned the desecration of nine mosques in Paris and its suburbs as “outrageous” and “absolutely unacceptable,” after severed pigs’ heads—some marked with President Emmanuel Macron’s surname—were discovered on September 9 in what officials and community leaders decried as a grotesque act of Islamophobia.(Credit: Wikimedia)
Political leaders were swift to denounce the desecrations. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called them “outrageous” and “absolutely unacceptable.”
“I want our Muslim compatriots to be able to practise their faith in peace,” Retailleau said. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo confirmed the city had taken legal action, denouncing what she called “racist acts.”
The response from Muslim community leaders mixed outrage with alarm. Chems-Eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, described the incident as an “Islamophobic act” and “a new and sad stage in the rise of anti-Muslim hatred.”
Bassirou Camara, head of the anti-discrimination group ADDAM, warned of further escalation. “We have been raising the alarm for months and we are not being heard,” Camara stated. “What will be the next step? Throwing pigs’ heads at worshippers or physically assaulting them?”
Authorities noted the attacks recall previous desecrations involving foreign interference, such as the vandalism of Jewish sites by Serbs suspected to be backed by Russian operatives. Police Chief Nuñez acknowledged parallels but cautioned against jumping to conclusions.
The incidents also follow a recent deadly attack on a Muslim worshipper. Earlier this year, 22-year-old Aboubakar Cissé was stabbed to death inside a mosque in La Grand-Combe; prosecutors said the suspect filmed the attack while shouting insults at Allah. Macron had condemned the killing, stating there is no place for religious hate in France.
Feature photo: Several pig heads, some marked with President Emmanuel Macron’s surname, were left at nine mosques in Paris and its suburbs. Foreign nationals are believed to be responsible. (Credit: X)
