Gennevilliers Expands Muslim Cemetery Section Amid COVID-19 Deaths

The Muslim community, hard hit by the health crisis, is facing a lack of space for the burial of its deceased. To address this difficulty, the authorities of the city of Gennevilliers have decided to expand the Muslim section.

"The extension was inevitable and planned, but not so quickly. The coronavirus crisis has accelerated everything," says Patrice Leclerc, the PCF mayor of the city. "We still have space. A little further away, shared gardens have been set up on a plot that is actually a land reserve of the cemetery," he specifies.

With the division that will soon be opened, the Muslim section will be able to accommodate 54 deceased, including 38 adults. Ultimately, it will have more than 200 graves.

Several factors explain the constantly growing need for cemetery space. These include the increase in mortality related to covid-19, the closure of borders and the impossibility of repatriating bodies to Morocco and Algeria for example, reports AFP.

Another factor: the city had 12 deaths in March and April last year. For the mayor of Gennevilliers, the bar of 80 deaths could be crossed; which would represent seven times more. And "a large majority of them are people of Muslim faith," the city services indicate.