French police detained two people after they tried to break into the home of an Islamic cleric
who is in favour of anti-burqa legislation.Two police officers in charge of VIP protection
thwarted the burglary, said Farid Hannache, the spokesman for Hassan Chalghoumi, an imam in
the Paris suburb of Drancy. Chalghoumi has been under protection since the end of January.
Hannache told AFP two members of the radical pro-Palestinian Sheikh Yassin movement were
involved in the Drancy break-in. The pair were arrested and taken into custody at Bobigny, a
nearby Paris suburb.
The Drancy mosque was the scene of fierce tensions between the Muslim al-Nour association
headed by Chalghoumi and the Sheikh Yassin group early this year after the imam came out in
favour of proposed French legislation banning the full Muslim veil.
