A Catholic priest in southern France was surrounded, insulted, and threatened by a mob of young men shouting “Allahu Akbar” after evening Mass on Saturday, in what he has condemned as a brazen act of anti-Christian intimidation.
The attack took place on the evening of Saturday, May 10th, in Montfavet, near Avignon in Provence. The priest was ambushed. Early in the evening, after celebrating Mass, he was approached by a young man who told him of his desire to convert to Christianity. Behind him stood around ten teenagers or young adults, asking if they could enter the church. “Some claimed to be Muslims and said they just wanted to visit,” said the victim, Father Laurent Milan.
Once inside the building, the young men, some of whom were likely minors, showered the priest with insults and shouted “Allah Akhbar,” before threatening to set fire to his church and then fleeing. The local press (La Provence) reported that there were around ten young men aged between 15 and 20. Valeurs actuelles noted that some of them were hooded.
The victim filed a complaint, and the next day, police were deployed to secure the Sunday Mass.
For the clergyman, it is clear that the attack was motivated by anti-Catholic hatred. “They didn’t insult me personally,” he told La Provence. “It was provocation and abusive language, directed against the Catholic religion.”
This attack comes against a backdrop of increasing hostility towards his church and his community. Three days earlier, young people disrupted a meeting being held in the parish house, shouting and banging on the windows from outside.
In recent months, there have been a number of similar incidents across France. On Good Friday, April 18th, two priests were attacked—one in Lisieux in Normandy, the other in Tarascon in Provence. In Lisieux, the birthplace of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, the priest was grabbed by the collar and threatened by a man who came to the church twice during the day, although the priest was not injured. In Tarascon, the priest was slapped by a man whom he had asked to behave respectfully in church.
A month earlier, this time in Cambrai in the north of France, a 96-year-old priest was kidnapped and beaten up by two burglars. The two suspects, who are still at large, tied him to a chair, gagged him, punched him, and stole two chequebooks, a chalice, and a painting.It should be noted that these attacks were reported mainly in the local press and conservative outlets (Valeurs Actuelles, Frontières, Le Journal du Dimanche). They received no coverage in the mainstream press and were not followed by any public reaction from the minister of the interior, Bruno Retailleau, who is also the minister for religious affairs.