PARIS (FRANCE) – As part of a crackdown on Muslim radicals who incite hatred after the beheading of a teacher who showed his pupils caricatures of Prophet Mohammed, a mosque outside Paris was closed down temporarily.
The Grand Mosque of Pantin, which is a suburb where low-income families reside, posted a video on its Facebook page that spewed venom against the history teacher Samuel Paty who was decapitated.
The closure order was pasted outside the mosque by police and this comes as authorities promised tough action against those who spread hate, radical preachers and foreigner deemed to be a threat to national security.
According to the notice issued by the head of the Seine-Saint-Denis department, the six-month closure order was “for the sole purpose of preventing acts of terrorism”.
President Emmanuel Macron has expressed concern over Islamist separatism, which is an attempt by hostile elements within the Muslim community to impose radical, conservative beliefs over the traditional values of the Republic in some communities.
According to Interior Minister Gerald Darmain, the country was confronted by an “enemy within”.
Rector of the Grand Mosque of Panin, M’hammed Henniche, during this weekend expressed regret over sharing the video on social media. It became evident that the teacher was the victim of a sinister online campaign of threat even before he met a brutal end.