Dutch Muslim groups condemn Paris Attacks

Organizations representing Muslim people in the Netherlands denounced terrorist attacks in Paris that left over 120 people dead and nearly 100 people in critical condition. “We regard these hideous and barbaric attacks on innocent civilians in Paris as an attack on the entire human race,” the Council of Moroccan Mosques in the Netherlands (RMMN) said in a statement immediately after the assault. “The Dutch Muslim community is intensely sad, and also feels connect with all the victims and the French people,” the Liaisons to Muslims and Government (CMO) wrote on Saturday in which they called the incidents “barbaric, cowardly and inhumane terrorist attacks.” The violence took place on Friday night, and lasted into the early hours of Saturday morning. Dozens of people were shot at a concert venue where the American band Eagles of Death Metal performed, explosions took place outside a football stadium where France was hosting Germany in a friendly contest, and many others were killed as they dined in a Cambodian restaurant and drank at the bar next door. “These barbarians always have the same goal, specifically the subverting society, sowing fear, and pitting groups against each other. Let us all be vigilant and alert so that these sick criminals do not pull us apart with their cowardly crimes,” the CMO implored. “Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with all the victims and their families,” the RMMN said. They noted that Islam condemns murder as an attack on all humanity, and said they were “shocked” by what happened in Paris. They pledged to work with all Europeans who believe in democracy and the rule of law to “continue to fight against violence and hatred, regardless of who the perpetrator is,” they added. “[It] is with the intention we together can all make a fist against terror and extremism.”