GOOGLE MAPS The Perpignan Grand Mosque was daubed with racist graffiti over the weekend

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The Grand Mosque of Perpignan, a town which lies close to the southern border with Spain, was also vandalised with a swastika on Friday night; and police found the words “Arabs out” daubed on one of the outside walls. The anti-Muslim graffiti was spotted by the caretaker in the early hours of Saturday morning and was immediately removed, a local prefecture spokesman said, before adding that the mosque leaders had since filed a damages claim.

Racists and all of those who are trying to divide the country have no place in France Bruno Le Roux, French Interior Minister

The Perpignan prefect, Philippe Vigne, visited the Grand Mosque on Saturday afternoon “as a show of support and to express his solidarity towards the local Muslim community in the wake of the racist attack” the French interior minister, Bruno Le Roux, said. In a press release issued on Saturday, Mr Le Roux strongly condemn the graffiti attack: “Racists and all of those who are trying to divide the country have no place in France, where all religions are equally respected.”

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GOOGLE MAPS The attack was condemned by the French Interior Minister