The French government has announced that it will be investigating 76 mosques that are ‘suspected of separatism’. If the government’s concerns are found to be correct, the mosques will be shut down.
This comes amidst a crackdown on Islamic radicalism and extremism in France, following a number of incidents in which Islamic extremists committed acts of terror.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter: ‘On my instructions, the authorities will launch a massive and unprecedented action against separatism’. He also said that if the suspicions turned out to be true, he would request the closure of the mosques.
In October, President Emmanuel Macron announced a crackdown on Islamic separatism, as well as a raft of measures to combat it, including a ban on home schooling. He said he was determined to reassert the secular values of the French Republic in areas with high populations of Muslims and people with Arab ancestry.
The French government was criticised from several quarters, with claims that its actions were Islamophobic.
Nearly six million Muslims live in France, the highest number of any European country.
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