Imam Of France's Nice Calls On Religious Communities To Maintain Relations After Attack

Imam of France's Nice Calls on Religious Communities to Maintain Relations After Attack

NICE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2020) ICE, France, October 29 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko - The unknown assailant who killed three people at a church in the French city of NICE (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 30th October, 2020) ice earlier on Thursday was attempting to sour relations between the country's faith-based community groups, the imam of NICE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2020) ice, Abdelkader Sadouni, told Sputnik in an interview, adding that Christians, Muslims, and Jews in France should maintain their strong relations.

"I hope there will be no tensions. We must tell ourselves that French society is cosmopolitan, comprised of different religions - Jews, Muslims, Christians - that get along with each other very well. We cannot let this barbarian, who just tried to break these relations between the religions, [to do so]," Sadouni stated.

The imam said that the Christian community can expect to receive the support of their Muslim counterparts over the coming days following the brutal attack in the southern French city.

"It's an act of absolute horror, we are all mortified by what has happened. And we are now in a stage of recollection facing this unspeakably barbaric act which happened in our city today - just some meters away from our prayer room. And with all our hearts we are together with our Catholic friends and brothers, we are by their side, we share their pain and they can count on us," Sadouni stated.

Sources in the French law enforcement agencies believe the attacker to be a 21-year-old male of Tunisian origin. The assailant is said to have "almost beheaded" two of the victims during the attack at the Notre-Dame basilica, which has been described by French President Emmanuel Macron as an act of Islamist terrorism.