Police shut down a mosque east of Paris in a huge security operation Wednesday, the third to be closed since France declared a state of emergency after last month’s Paris attacks.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said “three pseudo-cultural associations” linked to the mosque at Lagny-sur-Marne were also being dissolved, the first time the government has used its special powers to wind up such groups.
Two other mosques were closed last week at Gennevilliers in the northern suburbs of Paris and in the small town of L’Arbresle near the central city of Lyon.
The closures are part of a huge security crackdown after 130 people were killed in the terrorist attacks on Paris on November 13.
“Such measures to close mosques because of radicalization have never before been taken by any government, including during the last state of emergency in 2005” after rioting broke out across France’s troubled suburbs, Cazeneuve said in a statement.
Nine people have since been placed under house arrest and 22 banned from leaving the country, the minister added.
Cazeneuve later told parliament that there had been 2,235 searches leading to 263 arrests since the three-month state of emergency began. AFP reported.
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