French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanan announced on Monday that he had ordered the closure of a mosque in the suburbs of Paris, after he shared on his page a video clip denouncing the lesson in which cartoons of the noble Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, were shown by Samuel Bate, the teacher who was killed Friday.
"I asked the governor of Sen Saint-Denis to close the Bantan Mosque," the minister said on the television channel TF1 (TF1), indicating that the police chief would "this evening sign the ban."
On Monday, the French authorities launched a security campaign against dozens of individuals associated with Islamic societies, and vowed to launch a "battle against the enemies of the republic," 3 days after the killing of teacher Samuel Patti, which led to the arrest of new individuals.
Arrests
and police arrested 15 people, including 4 students, and were interrogated by counterterrorism investigators who are seeking - according to what French media outlets - to find out whether the killer - an 18-year-old Russian Chechen who was killed by the police - had links with other individuals.
"It is clear that they issued a fatwa against the teacher," Interior Minister Gerard Darmanan told "Europe 1" radio, referring to the two arrested suspects.
The two men are among the 11 arrested pending investigation into the attack carried out by a Chechen youth in advance of beheading the teacher.
Darmanan stated that the operations target dozens of individuals who are not necessarily connected to the investigation of the murder of history teacher Samuel Patti, but aim to pass a message that "we will not let the enemies of the republic rest for one minute."
He also confirmed that more than 80 investigations were opened regarding "hate" on the Internet, targeting everyone who expressed his regret and said one way or another that the teacher brought the matter to himself, "confirming that arrests have occurred.
In the same context, a police source said on Sunday that the Ministry of Interior is preparing to expel 231 foreigners on the watch list, on suspicion of adopting "extremist religious beliefs," two days after the incident of the massacre of a teacher who offered his students drawings that insult the noble Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.