Muslim Premises Ransacked by Corsican Protesters Amid Outbreak of Violence

A Muslim prayer hall was vandalized following an attack on firefighters and police on the French island of Corsica.

"Corsica: after the intolerable assault on firefighters, unacceptable desecration of a Muslim place of prayer. Respect for the republican law," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls wrote on Twitter.

Corse: après l'agression intolérable de pompiers, profanation inacceptable d'un lieu de prière musulman. Respect de la loi républicaine.

— Manuel Valls (@manuelvalls) December 25, 2015

​Violence reportedly broke out in the port city of Ajaccio, the island's capital and its biggest town, on Thursday night, when two firefighters and a police officer were ambushed and seriously injured in Jardins de l’Empereur, one of the city's low-income neighborhoods.

On Friday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Ajaccio in solidarity with those wounded in the attack. A small group of demonstrators ransacked a Muslim prayer room, breaking windows and "attempting to burn Qurans and books of prayer," according to the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. Le Figaro reported that two Qurans were burned.

VIDEO: Angry crowd attacks mosque in the port city of Ajaccio in Corsica. — @djvgrrl. pic.twitter.com/EucFN2B33C

— Conflict News (@Conflicts) December 25, 2015

​The mob chanted "Arabs get out!" and "This is our home!", AFP news agency reported.

The Interior Minister said in a statement that the people responsible for these racist and xenophobic “intolerable abuses,” will be punished.
French TV reported that police reinforcements were called in to other prayer rooms in Ajaccio on Friday following the incident.