The regional governor said the suspect also set a car ablaze before fleeing the scene in the southwestern city of Bayonne. The letter made no mention of any intention to attack the mosque, the paper said. The newspaper identified the suspect as Claude Sinke, a candidate in 2015 departmental elections for France’s far-right National Rally party, then known as the National Front. Interior Ministry election results from 2015 show that a Claude Sinke ran unsuccessfully in his community of Seignanx. The incident came amid a divisive debate in France over the headscarves worn by some Muslim women and whether the nation’s secular principles were being honoured.

Source: thestar October 28, 2019 17:04 UTC