France announced on Wednesday that it was shutting down an Islamist mosque in Cannes for antisemitic incitement.
Speaking to news channel CNews, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the mosque was closed by the government for “antisemitic remarks” and “incitement to hatred.”
He added that the mosque in the French Riviera resort town was also shuttered due to its links with two illegal Islamist associations that were banned after the beheading of French teacher Samuel Paty in October 2020.
“We are closing one of the mosques in Cannes because we hold it responsible for antisemitic remarks, support for the CCIF (Collective Against Islamophobia in France) and BarakaCity,” Darmanin said.
The CCIF was banned by the government in 2020, and in September 2021, the top administrative court in France affirmed the government’s order. BarakaCity, which claimed to be an Islamic charity, was dissolved by the government in October 2020.
Both organizations were said by the government to be in violation of the internal security code. BarakaCity was said to have “elicited openly antisemitic comments, inciting violence and murder or even calling for it sometimes directly, or comments condoning crimes against the humanity.”
CCIF was accused by the Council of State of maintaining “close links with supporters of radical Islamism inviting the evasion of certain laws of the republic.”
Darmanin said that Cannes Mayor David Lisnard had been consulted prior to closing the mosque.
The town of Cannes issued a statement noting that the mosque was shut down “after meticulous research by the state services and multiple reports made directly by the municipality of Cannes since 2015.”
“The vast majority of Muslims who frequent this very old mosque do not share its orientation; some also alerted us,” the statement added.