Prime Minister attends inauguration of mosque north of Paris

This community is “too often the target of aggression that we cannot tolerate,” he said in his speech, adding that in 2009, 30 per cent of racist violence, mostly threats, was directed towards Muslims.

But he also warned against religious fundamentalism.

“The enemy of national cohesion is clannishness, communautarism and religious fundamentalism, he said, adding that “when we fight fundamentalism, it is not Islam that is being stigmatised.”

Fillon said Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux had signed an agreement with the French Muslim council (CFCM) which would allow the gathering of statistics of violence committed against Muslims in France. He also said that he had asked Justice Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie to increase the number of judges specially trained to fight racism and xenophobia.

Hortefeux, did not attend the ceremony, according to the mayor of Argenteuil, Philippe Doucet, who said in a statement earlier that the visit was intended to repair damage around the debate around national identity.

At the end of last year, the government launched national debate over what it means to be French, which critics said was aimed as a criticism of France’s large Muslim minority. A few weeks ago the government adopted a law that forbids the wearing of the burka, the full Islamic veil.

The mosque was built for the Al Iihsan Islamic institute of France, on a 5,200-square-meter piece of land. According to the institute, some 28,000 Muslims live in Argenteuil.

France is home to some five to six million Muslims, the most in Europe. Islam is the second-largest religious group in the Paris area, after Catholicism.