France in active counterterrorism bid

Shaimaa Yahia

France works to eradicate terrorism altogether. It has started offering special care to Muslims living in it. It also fights the terrorist networks that aim to destabilize it.

On February 13, the French Interior Ministry revealed that it had closed down two mosques and placed 63 others under close watch to prevent extremists from entering them.

Members of the French parliament asked Interior Minister, Christophe Castaner, to consider enforcing the French terrorism law which was approved by the parliament in October 2017.

The law ended the state of emergency in the European country.

The demand of the French lawmakers came within a wider plan for assessing the performance of the Interior Ministry during 2019.

Castaner said police succeeded in foiling 31 terrorist attacks since January 2017. He added that French authorities also closed down two mosques in 2017, compared with five mosques in 2018. He revealed that the authorities are also working on the closure 30 other places of worship.

A decision has been taken to close down seven mosques already, the French minister said.

Supervision

France takes a series of other measures to tighten control on the security situation in it. About 134 people were placed under administrative supervision in 2019. This is 84% larger than the number of people placed under administrative supervision in 2018.

Around 57% of these people had just got out of jails, or were accused of terrorism.

France has already expanded supervision and search operations in different places, including train stations. It also placed important sites under close supervision.

The internal French intelligence has just revealed that around 18,000 people are on its supervision lists against the background of extremism suspicions. It said 4,000 people are under active supervision.

French authorities are also taking measures to investigate people at the workplaces to keep the lid on any extremist thinking in these places.