Felix Nkambeh Tih
21 October 2016•Update: 21 October 2016
ANKARA
There was a decline in Islamophobic attacks on Muslims in France since January, the country’s National Observatory Against Islamophobia claimed on Thursday.
However, the group warned that growing “cyber hate” against Muslims remained a serious issue.
Some 149 anti-Muslim acts were recorded between January and September 2016 compared to 323 incidents in the same period last year, according to Abdallah Zekri, head of the organization.
Ninety-seven threats against Muslims were also recorded, compared to 227 in 2015 -- a fall of 57.3 percent.
In a statement, Zekri said online hate speech called into question “national cohesion” and urged an "unequivocal condemnation of the barbaric and criminal acts against our fellow believers".
"However, Islamophobia, via cyber hate, is still growing strongly since the July 14 Nice attack," he added.
There have been several terrorist attacks in France over the past months. The Nice attack in July killed 85 people, including 10 children, and wounded more than 100 others.
The highest number of Islamophobic attacks recorded by the group was in 2015.
France is home to one of the largest percentages of Muslims living in Western Europe, around eight million people in total.
