The French government continues its crackdown on terrorism in the country just days after it announced it will block foreign funding for mosques in the country, the country has also decided to shut down twenty mosques considered of radical Islamic teaching in the country.
According to the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, who talked to the press after a meeting with leaders of the French Council of the Muslim Religion, Bernard said;
There is no place…in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques, and who don’t respect certain republican principles, notably equality between men and women.
That is why I took the decision a few months ago to close mosques through the state of emergency, legal measures or administrative measures. About 20 mosques have been closed, and there will be others.
There are around 2,500 mosques in France, and about 120 of those mosques are considered to be preaching radical Salafism, a strict Sunni interpretation of Islam. Bernard said that since 2012, 80 people have been deported from France, and more deportation would happen soon.
The crackdown on mosques in France is as a result of repeated Jihadist attack in different part of France in the past year, with many attributing the failure to security failure.