By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The European Union's Racism Monitoring Center on Thursday warned of possible anti-Muslim backlash in response to the rioting in France, which has been blamed on youths from the African and Muslim communities.
The European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, based in Vienna, Austria, urged European governments and community leaders to work together to prevent any retaliatory attacks against minorities.
The group did not report any incidents but said it would compile data from across the 25-nation EU in the coming months to see if any backlash against Muslims occurs in the wake of the unrest.
However, the report did chart a "short-term disturbing upsurge in anti-Muslim incidents in the immediate aftermath of the bombings." It called the incidents - which included arson attacks at several mosques and a Sikh temple - "sporadic and isolated" and said the spike quickly leveled off.
The center's report also detailed several sporadic and relatively minor incidents elsewhere in Europe in recent months, including several stones being thrown through the window of a mosque in Linz, Austria, and e-mail bomb threats against Muslim targets in Denmark and Sweden.