‘Islamophobic act’: Pigs’ heads with Macron’s name found outside mosques in Paris; probe under way

At least 9 pigs’ heads have been found outside mosques in the Paris area on Tuesday. Some of the severed heads had the name of French President Emmanuel Macron written on them.Paris police chief Laurent Nunez confirmed the incidents and stated that pigs’ heads have been positioned outside 4 mosques in the capital and 5 in close by suburbs. “Pigs’ heads have been left in front of certain mosques… Four in Paris and five in the inner suburbs,” Macron was quoted as saying to information company AFP in a press convention.Macron added that officers weren’t “ruling out the possibility of finding more”.The Paris prosecutor’s workplace stated a number of of the heads had Macron’s surname written on them in blue ink. Police have opened a probe into incitement to hatred aggravated by racial or spiritual discrimination.Pork will not be consumed in Islam, the place it’s thought of impure, making the act particularly delicate for Muslims. France has the European Union’s largest Muslim neighborhood, in addition to its largest Jewish inhabitants.The incidents come at a time of heightened spiritual tensions throughout Europe. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has reported a surge in each anti-Muslim hatred and antisemitism because the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October 2023. In France, official information exhibits anti-Muslim incidents rose by 75 per cent between January and May 2025 in contrast with the earlier yr, with assaults on people tripling.Political and neighborhood leaders condemned the Paris incidents. Macron met Muslim representatives to specific his “support”. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo introduced the town had taken authorized motion, denouncing the “racist acts”. Interior minister Bruno Retailleau known as them “outrageous” and “absolutely unacceptable”. He added, “I want our Muslim compatriots to be able to practise their faith in peace.”Chems-Eddine Hafiz, the 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”.French officers have beforehand linked different surprising acts to Russia, together with coffins draped in the French flag left on the Eiffel Tower inscribed with “French soldiers of Ukraine” and vandalism at a Holocaust memorial painted with blood-red handprints. In June, three Serbs have been charged over Jewish website desecrations suspected to be Russia-backed.

Macron appointed loyalist Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister on Tuesday, making him the fifth to carry the position in lower than two years. Lecornu is a former conservative who backed Macron’s 2017 marketing campaign, most just lately served as defence minister and is thought for his pro-business stance.Lecornu succeeds François Bayrou, who was ousted by parliament over debt discount plans and now faces the problem of constructing consensus on the 2026 finances. Macron requested him to hunt compromise throughout events, however leftist teams dismissed his appointment, whereas the far-right National Rally expressed conditional assist. Critics say Macron’s alternative dangers fuelling discontent as France grapples with deep political divisions and mounting financial pressures.