France Closes 22 Mosques Amid Crackdown on Religious Extremism

"We blame him for anti-Semitic remarks, support for the Collective against Islamophobia in France and BarakaCity," Interior Minister explained on BFM TV. A statement confirmed by the LR mayor of the city David Lisnard, according to whom the decision comes "after meticulous research work by the state services and multiple reports made directly by the municipality since 2015".

This mosque located in Cannes is added to these many others closed in Beauvais, Pantin, Allonnes and others for preaching, it is said, inciting hatred, anti-Semitism. Prefect Christian Gravel, Secretary General of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization (CPIDR), told the magazine Marianne that the administration has decided to fight extremism, racial hatred, anti-Semitism.

Out of the 2,623 Muslim places of worship existing on French territory, 99 were suspected of "separatism". Twenty-two have been closed, "due to administrative prescriptions, a court decision, a lease takeover or an administrative closure" and five that are still under investigation could be closed.

According to a senior official, "France has been confronted with the problem of Islamist radicalization for at least three decades. The awareness of the importance of mobilizing the entire state apparatus to prevent the conditions leading to radicalization is very recent". The strategy put in place is simple and consists in neutralizing the spaces where a discourse of incitement to hatred is disseminated. For Prefect Christian Gravel, "today, a toxic preacher who regularly spreads anti-Republican, inciting hatred, anti-Semitic, homophobic or anti-Christian remarks, can no longer feel free to do so". He adds that "Islamism is the cancer of Islam. Fighting radical political Islam is to protect the Republic and protect Muslims."

For the faithful of the last mosque that was closed, the decision came as a surprise. "I come to pray regularly, and I have never heard such remarks. If an individual or a group of individuals has acted in this way, then they must be precisely designated. Messrs. Darmanin and Lisnard must have their reasons, but I am very concerned about a closure," testified one of them.

"The closure of places of worship is above all a communication strategy, because today we know that recruitment and radicalization first take place on the Internet," explains researcher Florence Bergeaud-Blackler to Marianne. For Lorenzo Vidino, in addition to the closure of these places of worship and the hunt for Islamists on the Internet, "we must above all succeed in bringing out other figures than Islamists at the head of these radical mosques".

This is also the wish expressed by David Lisnard, on Wednesday. "We know that the vast majority of Muslims who frequent this very old mosque do not share its drift; some had even alerted us. It is therefore up to them to bring out new leaders who respect the French Republic and the country".