French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin will propose the dissolution of several major Islamist associations after the murder of teacher Samuel Paty.
Interior Minister Darmanin said he would defer to the courts, but argued that he would propose the disbanding of several controversial Islamist groups such as the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF).
Darmanin went as far as stating that he believed several factors regarding the groups made them an “enemy of the Republic” and helped contribute to the environment that led to the beheading of Mr Paty last week, Le Figaro reports.
The CCIF was involved in overturning bans on the Islamic swimwear known as the burkini, which the group branded “political Islamophobia”, after several local governments along the French Rivera had forbidden it in 2016.
Darmanin also mentioned Barakacity as another group he would like to see dissolved, with the Islamic NGO suspected of having close ties to radical Salafist extremism.
President and founder of Barakcity Idriss Sihamedi has been labelled a Salafist, and it was revealed in 2014 that he had been under surveillance by the French domestic security agency, the Directorate General of Homeland Security (DGSI).
The NGO has also been accused of collecting around €3 million in donations in 2013 but only spent just over one million, registering a “profit” of nearly €2 million.
“It is easy to see how political Islam joins radical Islam and ultimately leads to terrorism,” Darmanin said and added: “We must fight political Islam with the same force as terrorism.”
The French government has expressed a desire to combat Islamist separatism in France since President Emmanuel Macron’s election in 2017. Macron’s administration has shut down several mosques, schools, and other associations linked to radicalism in recent years.
However, a leaked DGSI intelligence report in January found that radical Islamists control as many as 150 neighbourhoods across France.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.