France’s Minister of Interior, Gerald Dermanin, announced the ministry shut down Al Madina Al Mounawara Mosque in Cannes in the Alpes-Maritimes region on January 12 for promoting “anti-Semitic remarks.”
Talking to the French TV channel CNews, Darmanin said the closure of the mosque comes as a response to its “support for the CCIF (Collective against Islamophobia in France) and BarakaCity.”
French outlet France Tv Info reported the Cannes town hall said that the “decision comes after a meticulous work of research of the services of the State and multiple reports made directly by the municipality of Cannes since 2015.”
The prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes said in an earlier statement that he launched a procedure “to consider the administrative closure of the mosque Al Madina al Mounawara for a period of two months, under Article 36- 3 of the Act of December 9, 1905.
The prefecture confirmed the information of the Cannes city hall and the Minister of the Interior, adding that the mosque “multiplies hateful remarks towards France, its institutions and its laws on the one hand.”
Similar to what other regions did to mosques, Alpes-Maritimes prefecture also accused Al Madina Al Mounawara Mosque of “holding remarks inciting hatred towards homosexuals or transsexuals on the other hand and finally showing an explicit anti-Semitic hatred.” He added “ambiguous behaviors have been maintained with individuals belonging to the radical Islamist movement and who are committed to pro-jihadist theses.”
Read also: Muslim Council Decries French Government’s Apparent Targeted Islamophobia
This decision is part of France’s crackdown on the perceived proliferation of radical and extremist mosques and Islamic organizations.
The French prefecture of Oise announced on December 27, 2021, the official temporary closure of the Great Mosque of Beauvais, according to the French outlet Le Parisien.
Amid a political climate where politicians are competing to be combative against Muslims to win votes, France has been raiding Islamic organizations and mosques since the horrific attacks against Samuel Paty in 2020 and Charlie Hebdo’s former office.
