Muslim Conference in Vaucluse Canceled Amid Controversy and Local Opposition

The organization by D’Clic Valence of a Muslim conference on November 27 in Montfavet has raised lively controversies. The departmental council of the Muslim cult (CDCM) of Vaucluse, created in 2019 with 21 mosques in the department, dissociated itself in a press release from this conference, "the theme of which is not mentioned and even though no local association is associated with it in any way." It also criticized the fact that the association had invited preachers such as Nader Abou Anas, Mehdi Bouzid, and Ismaïl Abou Ibrahim, imam of the Bleuets mosque in Marseille, who are, according to him, "widely contested" and also called for its ban.

The conference is to be rescheduled on January 8 in Avignon. Once again, it could not be held in Cabannes, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, the new venue chosen "for logistical reasons," the D’clic association said. "The manager of the hall where the conference was scheduled decided not to follow up on the association’s request with which he was to sign the rental contract this Saturday, January 7," reports La Provence. The far-right sphere would have put pressure on the lessor. "Too many lunatics called me!" he confided.

Another reason given: the fear of an attendance of "thousands" at the conference "for a hall capacity of 600 people". The organizers said they had received "serious threats" from the far-right sphere, and say they are unable to "manage security under these conditions".