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Police Raids in France Target Islamist Groups After Teacher’s Killing Police Raids in France Target Islamist Groups After Teacher’s Killing
(about 2 hours later)
PARIS — As a wave of anger continued to sweep over France following the decapitation of a high school teacher, the French police conducted dozens of raids on Monday targeting individuals associated with radical Islamists, and the government vowed to shut down Muslim aid organizations and expel dozens of foreign nationals for showing signs of radicalism. PARIS — France unleashed a broad crackdown on Muslims accused of extremism on Monday, carrying out dozens of raids, vowing to shut down aid groups and threatening to expel foreigners as anger swept the country following the decapitation of a high school teacher in front of his school for showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class.
Thousands of people took to the streets in cities around France over the weekend to demonstrate their horror at the killing on Friday, and politicians, especially on the right, jostled to sound the alarm against “the enemy within,” as Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin put it in a radio interview, referring to the country’s radicalized Muslims. Many of those swept up in raids were already in police files for showing “signals’’ of potential radicalization, like preaching radicalized sermons or sharing hate messages on social networks, government officials said. More than 200 others — the bulk already in prison — were threatened with a rare mass expulsion.
The operations by the police that began early Monday were focusing on people already in their files — those the security services say have shown “signals” of radicalization, like preaching radicalized sermons, or sharing hate messages on social networks, Mr. Darmanin told Europe 1 radio. But other groups targeted in the raids included Muslim associations previously given government subsidies for their work promoting better civic relations, and only 15 of the people arrested were believed to have had any connection to the decapitation on Friday.
As much as the Charlie Hebdo killings of 2015, the murder of Samuel Paty, a teacher in a suburb north of Paris, has struck deep inside the French psyche as an assault on a principal pillar of the French republic — the secular public school system. Mr. Paty was attacked in the street after having shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class during a discussion about free speech. The scope of the response was a measure of how the killing of the teacher, Samuel Paty, in a suburb north of Paris, had reopened old wounds in France. The nation remains traumatized by terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists that killed scores in 2015, starting with the editorial offices of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine — whose cartoons the teacher had shown.
The government, pressed by President Emmanuel Macron’s likely leading challenger in 2022, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, stepped up the pressure Monday on French Muslims and Muslim organizations identified as radicalized by the security services. “This situation calls for a strategy of reconquest,” Ms. Le Pen said Monday. “Islamism is a bellicose ideology.” As much as the Charlie Hebdo killings, the killing of Mr. Paty on Friday has struck deep inside the French psyche as an assault on a principal pillar of the French republic — the secular public school system — as well as the nation’s devotion to freedom of speech.
Thousands of people took to the streets in cities around France over the weekend to demonstrate their horror at the killing, and politicians, especially on the right, jostled to sound the alarm against “the enemy within,” as Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin put it in a radio interview, referring to the country’s radicalized Muslims.
Mr. Paty was attacked outside his school after having shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class during a discussion about free speech.
The government stepped up the pressure in part because of, President Emmanuel Macron’s likely leading challenger in 2022, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen. “This situation calls for a strategy of reconquest,” Ms. Le Pen said Monday. “Islamism is a bellicose ideology.”
Some 51 Muslim aid organizations will also be targeted by the police this week, the interior minister said, some of which would be dissolved at Mr. Macron’s request. Mr. Darmanin called one “an enemy of the republic.”Some 51 Muslim aid organizations will also be targeted by the police this week, the interior minister said, some of which would be dissolved at Mr. Macron’s request. Mr. Darmanin called one “an enemy of the republic.”
Already, 11 people have been arrested, including family members of the suspect, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee named Abdullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by the police Friday night after the killing. Also in custody is the father of a student at the school who had denounced Mr. Paty online for showing the caricatures, and demanded his dismissal. The video circulated widely and may have been seen by the killer.Already, 11 people have been arrested, including family members of the suspect, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee named Abdullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by the police Friday night after the killing. Also in custody is the father of a student at the school who had denounced Mr. Paty online for showing the caricatures, and demanded his dismissal. The video circulated widely and may have been seen by the killer.
The interior minister also announced on Monday the expulsion of 231 foreign citizens identified for their radicalism, including 180 who were already in prison. Those not imprisoned would soon be arrested, officials said.The interior minister also announced on Monday the expulsion of 231 foreign citizens identified for their radicalism, including 180 who were already in prison. Those not imprisoned would soon be arrested, officials said.
One of the government’s primary targets is the best-known of France’s Muslim aid organizations, the Collective Against Islamophobia, the C.C.I.F., which compiles a register of anti-Muslim acts. It denounced the government’s pronouncements against it on Monday as a “calumny.”One of the government’s primary targets is the best-known of France’s Muslim aid organizations, the Collective Against Islamophobia, the C.C.I.F., which compiles a register of anti-Muslim acts. It denounced the government’s pronouncements against it on Monday as a “calumny.”