Europe 1 with AFP 9:54 p.m., November 16, 2022

"Two Koranic-type schools" accused of providing religious learning courses without authorization to dozens of children in Montpellier will have to close soon, announced the Hérault prefecture.

The town hall is also preparing to validate this decision of the prefecture.

The Hérault prefecture announced on Wednesday the upcoming closure in Montpellier of "two Koranic-type schools" accused of providing religious learning courses without authorization to dozens of children, a decision that the city is preparing to validate. , according to the town hall.

By order of the prefect of Hérault, Hugues Moutouh, "unannounced administrative checks" were carried out on Wednesday in two religious establishments in the district of Tourny, in the south of the city, the prefecture explained in a press release.

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“These control operations (…) made it possible to discover the illegal existence of two Koranic-type schools essentially providing religious learning courses,” she explained.

"Collective reception of unauthorized minors"

It is an "institute" which "hosted classrooms welcoming more than 90 minor children aged 6 to 15", and the "centre", where "about sixty children, the youngest of whom could be 3 or 4 years old, were grouped together in a collective reception of unauthorized minors", according to the press release.

“A prayer room open to the public without authorization was also discovered” in this second establishment, added the prefecture.

The prefect of Hérault "will take an order closing the illegal collective reception of minors and he asked the mayor of Montpellier, in accordance with his police powers, the immediate closure of the two establishments".

“We are of course going to sign the decree that the prefect asks of us since he considers that these establishments do not meet the standards of establishments open to the public (ERP),” a source close to the government told AFP at the start of the evening. socialist mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse.