More than 10,000 people marched through Paris today in an anti-Islamophobia demonstration that has divided France's political class.
Organisers said they had called the rally in a sign of support two weeks after a man with far-right connections fired shots in a mosque in the southwestern city of Bayonne, injuring two elderly men.
A topless woman, who had 'we're not promoting secularism' written on her chest, also joined the protest, but appears to be from the feminist group Femen protesting for a secular society.
Members of hard-left parties took part in the march, though some others in the centre stayed away saying it threatened France's tradition of secularism.
{"preview_thumbnail":"https://cdn.flowplayer.com/6684a05f-6468-4ecd-87d5-a748773282a3/i/v-i-b…","video_id":"bc75c8ed-3c4a-41bf-86e9-3d82e04ac0de","player_id":"8ca46225-42a2-4245-9c20-7850ae937431","provider":"flowplayer","video":"US Will Keep About 600 troops in Syria"}
Far right leader Marine Le Pen claimed the event had been organised by Islamists.
Crowds walked through the capital waving banners marked with the messages 'Stop all racism' and 'Islamophobia is not an opinion but a crime' at the event organised by the Collectif Contre l'Islamophobie en France.
Head of the far left France Unbowed party Jean-Luc Melenchon said: 'It's up to us to demonstrate after an event like Bayonne to ensure the freedom of religion and thought that goes with it.'
But the state secretary in charge of fighting discrimination Marlene Schiappa had said the demonstration was a protest against secularism 'under the disguise of fighting discrimination'.
More than 40 per cent of Muslims said they had felt religious discrimination in France, according to a survey by Ifop earlier this month.
Islam is the second biggest religion in France, which has the biggest Muslim minority in Western Europe.
Last month, a member of Le Pen's National Rally party fuelled an ongoing debate about the position of Muslims and Muslim symbols in France by publicly telling a woman to remove her headscarf.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
