French Ministry of the Interior Reports 949 Anti-Christian Incidents in 2016
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 949 anti-Christian incidents - 399 acts of vandalism and 191 cases of theft of worship items - were recorded on the French territory in 2016 but this does not include the hacking of Catholic websites which were said to number 112 by the French Observatory of Christianophobia.
Some comparative statistics:
- Anti-Christian incidents: 17,4% increase between 2015 and 2016.
- Incidents targeting Christian sites (places of worship and tombstones: 245% increase between 2008 and 2016.
- Incidents concerning Christian places of worship in 2016: 90% of incidents concerning all places of worship (Christian, Jewish and Muslim).
The Ministry of the Interior notes that there was a satanist motivation behind 14 incidents and in 25 cases there was an anarchist connotation.
In France, there are about 45,000 church buildings, 2500 mosques and 500 synagogues. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 2400 Christian places of worship, 1090 Muslim buildings and 817 Jewish sites (synagogues, schools and community centers) are protected by law enforcement forces. In the last two years, an interministerial fund for the prevention of delinquency has granted 12.5 million EUR to provide the most sensitive religious sites with security and video-protection material.
Source & to read more: HRWF