French govt. to inspect nearly 80 mosques in coming days

The French government will inspect nearly 80 mosques in the coming days as part of unprecedented measures against "separatism."

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said state services would be inspecting 76 mosques, adding that some of them could be closed as a result.

He said 16 mosques in the French capital, Paris, and 60 in the rest of the country would be checked, and that 18 of them would be targeted with "immediate actions" at his request.

According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, Darmanin has sent a circular to French governors on the inspection of the mosques.

The French government has adopted an anti-Islam stance in recent months, intensifying raids and pressure on mosques and Muslim associations.

European groups urge Macron to stop stirring up hatred

More than 20 Europeans organizations slam French President Emmanuel Macron’s response to the murder of a teacher, saying it lacked wisdom.

In September, two people died in a knife attack outside the former offices of French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo.

On October 16, Samuel Paty, a history teacher was allegedly beheaded outside his school in a suburb of Paris. He raised controversy and provoked anger by showing blasphemous cartoons of Islam's Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to his students. Paty was murdered by an 18-year-old assailant, identified as Chechen Abdullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by police soon after the killing.

Also on October 29, three people, including a woman, were killed following a knife attack, which was considered a "suspected terror attack," at the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Nice.

Following those incidents, French President Emmanuel Macron described Islam as a religion "in crisis" and declared war on "Islamist separatism," which he claimed was taking over France's estimated six-million-strong Muslim population.

French Muslims criticized the remarks, voicing concern that the speech would trigger hate crimes against them.

Mosques in southern France placed under protection amid threats

Mosques in two southern French cities are placed under the protection of security forces due to the spread of violent threats against Muslims across the country.

Macron's comments have angered not only the Muslim community in France, but all Islamic nations, leading to protests and calls for the boycott of French goods.

As part of a crackdown against Muslims, French authorities have already ordered a six-month shutdown of the Grand Mosque of Pantin in a low-income Paris suburb.

On November 3, Darmanin said 43 mosques had been closed in the last three years since  Macron took office.

Anti-Muslim sentiments have been on the rise across Europe in recent years in the wake of terrorist attacks in the continent. The attacks were carried out by the sympathizers of the terrorist group of Daesh or those of its members who had returned home following defeat in Iraq and Syria.

Muslim leaders in Europe and around the world have reiterated their unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attacks.

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