Paul Keenan
French authorities have moved to close down 20 mosques among a range of measures aimed at tackling radicalisation of Muslims.
In the wake of a series of brutal attacks in France in recent weeks, including the savage murder of Fr Jacques Hamel in Normandy, the country’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazenueve announced that 20 mosques known to be facilitating radical preachers will be shut.
“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,” Minister Cazenueve said in announcing the measures.
France has also expelled a number of figures with links to radical Islam, and these expulsions would continue, the minister said.