Three churches targeted by arson attempts in Paris

This is the third time in just over a week that a church has been the victim of an attempted fire in Paris. On Wednesday January 25 in the morning, the Saint-Laurent church, located in the 10th arrondissement of the capital, was affected, announced on Twitter Karen Taieb, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of heritage, the history of Paris and relationships with cults. “New fire of a church in Paris which was reported to us this morning, she tweeted. The portal of the Saint-Laurent church is badly damaged. Our team is on site to assess the damage and file a complaint. »

An investigation was opened Monday evening, January 23, into two other arson attempts which have already targeted two Parisian churches, one of which twice, AFP learned, confirming information from the daily Le Parisien. The investigation opened for degradation by dangerous means due to race, ethnicity, nation or religion was entrusted to the 2nd district of the judicial police, said the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Incendiary Projectile

“On January 25, around 5 a.m., someone set fire to the main door of our church”, testifies to La Croix Father Roger Frey, vicar of the parish of Saint-Laurent. “A police patrol saw the fire and called the fire brigade, who put it out once there,” he continues.

A few days earlier, on two occasions, on January 17 and 22, the Notre-Dame-de-Fatima church, located in the 19th arrondissement, was the target of arson attempts. On the morning of January 17, before the opening of the church, an individual allegedly threw an incendiary projectile at the main door, which he would have previously sprinkled with a flammable liquid, La Croix learned from a source familiar with the matter. . The door would not have caught fire. A volunteer living nearby, seeing the fire from his window, came down to put it out.

On Sunday January 22, a second arson attempt took place in the same church. The door this time partially burned, before the firefighters intervened to put out the fire, according to the same source.

Flammable liquid

A second church, Saint-Martin-des-Champs, located in the 10th arrondissement, was targeted on Wednesday January 18. The main door would have been damaged. CCTV footage spotted an individual who started the fire with flammable liquid, says the same source. Students living nearby reportedly reacted after being woken up by the fire alarm in their room. They then called the firefighters who extinguished the fire, according to this source. The fire this time spread inside the church, according to Le Parisien.

The fires, quickly contained, caused no injuries. The diocese of Paris affirmed “to take the situation very seriously”, and “to be at work to support the priests and parishioners”. In a press release published on Tuesday evening, January 24, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo announced that the city was bringing a civil action, denouncing “with the greatest firmness (these) acts of degradation”.

“It’s very worrying,” said Wednesday, January 25, Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy to the city of Paris, who said he took these events “very seriously. “It is very worrying because, when we set fire to a building, we endanger not only the building itself but also the lives of our fellow citizens,” he insisted.

“Extremely rare threats in Paris”

The first deputy also recalled that threats against churches were “extremely rare in Paris. “The repetition in a short time of these malicious acts is worrying, he continued. This requires the public authorities to join forces quickly and efficiently, both to confuse the culprits, but also to send a very powerful message of prevention: there will be no impunity for this type of behavior. »

Emmanuel Grégoire also announced that “the means of prevention and surveillance are reinforced near places of worship in the geographical sectors concerned”. These will notably take the form of coordinated patrols between the municipal police and the national police in order to put an end, according to the first deputy, to “this irresponsible and totally criminal behavior in terms of the risks they entail”.

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