Christian, Muslim, Jewish leaders call for more security

French religious leaders have called for more security at places of worship following the murder of an elderly priest in Normandy on Tuesday.

Representatives of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist faiths spoke after meeting President Hollande.

Father Jacques Hamel was killed while conducting morning mass in his church.

The killing came 12 days after the attack in Nice in which 84 people died.

Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur, rector of Paris’s Grand Mosque, said the leaders “deeply desire that our places of worship are the subject of greater [security] focus, a sustained focus”, as even “the most humble place of worship” can be subject to an attack.

Mr Boubakeur expressed “profound sorrow” on behalf of French Muslims at the attack, which he described as a “blasphemous sacrilege”.

The Archbishop of Paris, Andre Vingt-Trois, praised the harmonious relations between France’s religions.

“We must not let ourselves get pulled in to Daesh’s political games,” he said, referring to the self-styled Islamic State group (IS), saying it wanted “to set children of the same family against each other”.