Paris (AFP)

Weakened by the cases of police violence, Gérald Darmanin counterattacked Wednesday evening on another ground by announcing a "massive and unprecedented action against separatism" in the coming days targeting "76 mosques".

In a singular way, the Minister of the Interior made this announcement by a tweet referring to an article in Figaro, which reveals a note of November 27 sent to the prefects in which Mr. Darmanin details his action plan.

"In accordance with my instructions, the state services will launch massive and unprecedented action against separatism", writes the Minister of the Interior on Twitter, adding: "76 mosques suspected of separatism will be checked in the coming days and those that will have to be closed will be ".

In the note, the content of which was confirmed by the entourage of the minister to AFP, Mr. Darmanin targets 76 places of worship to be checked, 16 in the Paris region and 60 in the rest of France.

Of these 76 places of worship, 18 will be targeted by "immediate actions", which can go as far as closure.

- 18 priority targets -

According to information from Figaro, confirmed by the ministry to AFP, of these 18 "target" mosques, three are in Seine-Saint-Denis: one ignored a closure decision taken by the mayor of the town, a second officially closed in 2019 continued to organize prayers and the third was subject to an unfavorable opinion from the security commission, without the State verifying the effective closure of the mosque.

Of the 15 other locations, 5 are located in the greater Parisian suburbs or in the immediate vicinity of Île-de-France (3 in Val-d'Oise, one in Seine-et-Marne and one in Oise) and 10 in the region (including 2 in Hérault, 2 in Vaucluse, the rest in particular in Haute-Garonne, Moselle, Nord, Bas-Rhin, Var).

At least one prefect concerned with priority targets told AFP that he had not yet received the note.

The announcement of this operation comes a week before the Council of Ministers examines, on December 9, the bill "consolidating republican principles" which aims to fight against "separatism" and radical Islamism.

It also occurs at a time when the Minister of the Interior is weakened by police violence and the challenge of article 24 of the proposed law on "Global security", already voted by the deputies.

Last week there was first the violent evacuation of an illegal migrant camp in the heart of the capital, then the broadcast of a video showing images of the beating by police officers of Michel Zecler, a producer of black music, inside his Parisian studio.

Regarding the migrant camp, Mr. Darmanin immediately denounced the "shocking" images and requested a report from the Paris police prefect, which led to the referral to the IGPN, "the police of the police".

Three days later, the images of the beating of the producer raised a wave of indignation until President Emmanuel Macron who spoke of "shame".

As a matter of urgency, the IGPN launched an investigation which ended on Sunday with the indictment of four police officers.

Two of them were remanded in custody.

To this was added a political crisis around article 24 of the text "Global security" which represses the dissemination of malicious images against the police.

Faced with growing protest and the mobilization of the press, Gérald Darmanin proposed the creation of an "independent commission" which would rewrite this article 24.

However, the text (and its article 24) was widely voted on by the National Assembly and must be examined in January by the Senate, before a return to the deputies for final adoption.

Result, the deputies of the majority howled, starting with the president LREM of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, and obviously the Senate, by the voice of its president LR Gérard Larcher, denouncing a flouted Parliament.

This incident caused the fury of the head of state earlier this week and led to the announcement of a total rewrite of article 24.

© 2020 AFP