Muslim community calls Yves Francoeur's comments 'islamophobic'

Yves Francoeur, the head of the Montreal police union, has backpedalledafter making comments on Monday about the citys "multi-ethnic character" and its relationship to radicalized Muslims.

Canadian Muslim Forum president Samer Majzoub called Francoeur out on CBC Daybreak on Tuesday morning, telling host Ainslie MacLellan that the union heads explanation of his comments didnt cut it.

When you start targeting people in particular, whether its because of their skin colour or religion or culture, it only complicates matters.- Samer Majzoub, Canadian Muslim Forum

"Its a very, extremely islamophobic statement,"Majzoub said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Francoeur told Radio-Canada that police officers are not immune to the possibility of attack because of the multi-ethnic character of Montreal.

He later put out a news release intended to clarify his comments.

In the release, he said Montreals cultural diversity was not a problem in and of itself, but that it was an important facet for police to consider.

Statement not satisfactory

Francoeur said Montreal has all the characteristics of a large international city, and with that comes complex problems.

"The new phenomenon of radicalized, isolated individuals is one of them. To reduce this phenomenon to its religious nature is reductionist,"his statement read.

Majzoub said he wasn't satisfied by Francoeurs statement.

He said its unfortunate, because Montreal Muslim community and the police have an otherwise good relationship.

"When you start targeting people in particular, whether its because of their skin colour or religion or culture, it only complicates matters. I dont think this is really facilitating the co-operation between the police and the Muslim community, or any other community," Majzoub said.