France shuts down a supposed anti-Islamophobia organization CRI for spreading “hatred, violence and discrimination”. According to reports, the organization CRI (Co-ordination against Racism and Islamophobia) is accused of provoking violent acts through social networks by the French authorities. In its statement, the Council of Ministers noted that the organization was actively participating in cultivating the suspicions of Islamophobia within the French society.
Speaking against the actions taken by the French government, CRI said, “We are dismayed by the fallacious arguments put forward by the government, and for those who know our actions since our creation in 2008 this despicable attack is in fact only a PR exercise with an electoral aim..” and also added that the association always worked to support victims and had never supported terrorism hatred or violence.
The move by the French government against anti-Islamophobia organizations is part of the French crackdown on radical Islamists after Samuel Paty, a school teacher, was publicly beheaded by radical Islamists last year.
The French government had also ordered the closure of a mosque in Allonnes near Le Mans for harbouring ‘radical Islam’ and ‘legitimising terrorist attacks’. Interior minister Gerald Darmanin had informed that the managers and imams at the mosque allowed actions that run counter to the ‘values of the Republic’.
Interior Minister Darmanin said that the mosque had been shut down for six months and that the bank accounts of the mosque’s administrators were seized.
The mosque faced charges of inciting hatred towards France, Westerners, Christians, and Jews. Darmanin said, “The sermons propagated in this mosque cultivating hatred toward France,” while the administration also noted that besides hatred and discrimination, the mosque promoted “the establishment of sharia” in France.
