Paris mosque to hold ‘anti-terror’ protest on Friday

A Muslim, left, prays in front of a floral tributes near the Bataclan concert hall after the terror attacks in Paris, Monday, Nov. 16, 2015. France is urging its European partners to move swiftly to boost intelligence sharing, fight arms trafficking and terror financing, and strengthen border security in the wake of the Paris attacks. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

The Great Mosque of Paris has urged French Muslims to gather at the country’s most important mosque on Friday to say “No to terror” and “We are all Paris!”

A statement called on “all Muslim citizens and their friends” to gather at 2:00 pm to say “No to terror” and voice “their deep attachment to Paris, its diversity and the values of the Republic.”

The statement added that the gathering of French Muslims after Friday prayers was “the best response to those seeking to instill the venom of discord and suspicion within the national community.”

The cleric of the Great Mosque called on all French imams to lead the Friday prayers for the victims of the France’s worst ever terror attacks.

“We, Muslims of France, can only insist on the need for national unity in opposing this misfortune which has afflicted us and which attacks indiscriminately,” Rector Dalil Boubakeur said, expressing horror at the unspeakable acts targeting innocent Parisians.

“We are all victims of this barbarity,” he said.

The suicide bombers behind Friday’s attacks on the national stadium, a packed music venue and bars and restaurants were “people who call themselves Muslims but who should, by rights, be called barbarians.”