Conflans attack: the government's avenues to harden the fight against Islamism

The tribute paid in front of the college where the decapitated history teacher worked, Saturday, October 17, 2020, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, north-west of Paris.

AP Photo / Michel Euler

Text by: RFI Follow

6 min

Emmanuel Macron asked the government, during the Defense Council on Sunday evening, for concrete actions against the Islamists who, according to him, “must not be able to sleep peacefully in our country” after the assassination of Samuel Paty.

As of Monday morning, the Ministry of the Interior therefore launched a vast control operation against the Islamist movement and this should continue in the coming days.

Publicity

Read more

In the entourage of the Minister of the Interior there is great firmness.

The home visits announced by Gérald Darmanin - around forty were to be carried out on Monday - will continue at the rate of about twenty per day as needed.

Several dozen associations throughout France are in the crosshairs, but also radicalized people active in particular on social networks, identified on the indications of intelligence and internal security.

►

It is not a question of controls directly linked to the investigation into the

, the professor of the college of Conflans-Saint-Honorine, but it is indeed this attack described as " 

 " which justifies the media coverage of police and gendarmerie operations carried out " 

", one explains to the Ministry of the Interior.

In other words, to show that " 

 " as Emmanuel Macron said.

Often accused of being satisfied with words, the President of the Republic wants to show his determination to act.

He therefore asked for a

 rapid and concrete

from his ministers.

Before the national tribute to Samuel Paty, Wednesday at the Sorbonne, the Head of State wants to show his willingness to engage in risposte.

The associations targeted by Darmanin

The Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin announced this Monday morning on Europe 1 that about fifty associative structures were going to be controlled.

The objective is to ensure that they respect the laws of the Republic and that they are not “separatist”.

The Minister of the Interior also indicated that he wanted the outright dissolution of several of them. 

Denominational schools, places of worship, collectives and associations are all structures that Gérald Darmanin wishes to have controlled.

The Minister of the Interior indeed suspects them of being "enemies of the Republic".

According to him, the political Islam that these structures would promote would encourage their members to no longer respect republican laws, in other words, to turn to separatism.

Two associations are particularly in the sights of the government, which even wants their dissolution.

First, the Collective against Islamophobia in France, the CCIF.

Gérald Darmanin affirms that this association created in 2003 and specializing in the defense of people claiming to be victims of Islamophobia would have helped to relay the messages of certain parents of students against Samuel Paty. 

►

Among the other associations threatened with dissolution, there is also Baraka City.

Created in 2010, this aid structure for underprivileged Muslims around the world has been in the crosshairs of the French authorities, particularly since its ambiguous positions after the 2015 attacks. 

It is during the next Council of Ministers, Wednesday, that a decree of dissolution against them could be promulgated.

♦ The homage of the Conference of Imams of France

Imam of Drancy Hassen Chalghoumi, president of the Conference of Imams of France, surrounded by a delegation in front of the college in Bois d'Aulne, October 19, 2020. REUTERS / Antony Paone

A dozen representatives of the Conference of Imams of France prayed and laid several wreaths of flowers this Monday afternoon in front of the gates of the Collège du Bois d'Aulne in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in homage to Samuel Paty.

It is a prayer of the martyrs.

We pray for their soul.

We say sorry to him.

Yes, we say so.

Report: Imams honor memory of murdered professor

Sylvie Koffi

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• France

• Gerald Darmanin

• Islam

• Terrorism

On the same subject

Islamist propaganda online, school safety: Paris announces "concrete" actions

Conflans attack: social networks in the sights of the authorities

At the Charlie Hebdo trial, a tribute to the beheaded professor