France Intensifies Raids on Muslim Communities Ahead of Olympics

IQNA – France has initiated a series of police operations targeting the Muslim community, citing national security concerns in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.

Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced in a message sent to all administrative regions that all measures should be taken to limit the “capacity to cause trouble” and to keep the most dangerous individuals monitored by the services “away from events,” the CAGE advocacy group reported on Tuesday.

Darmanin has also outlined a system of “detection and obstruction” targeting all Muslims who find themselves on the ever-expanding state security files, supposedly for “radicalisation for terrorist purposes.” The directive affects over 5,100 individuals who will be subjected to stringent surveillance.

Authorities across French territories have been instructed to enforce proactive measures, which may include raids, house arrests, and detentions, against anyone flagged in the security files, regardless of the nature of the suspected infraction, according to the advocacy group.

The CAGE, among others, has reported receiving multiple accounts of aggressive raids on Muslims, asserting that 250 individuals in Paris have been targeted.

Rayan Freschi, a researcher at the group, described the raids as excessively violent. “Police use extreme violence to terrorise the victims of these raids, through deliberate destruction of doors, furniture and belongings in addition to physical brutality.”

“The state used similar tactics between November 2015 and February 2016, a period during which thousands of Muslim families were violently raided as a form of collective punishment for the ISIS-inspired attacks in France that year. These tactics seek to discipline and silence Muslims by spreading paralysing fear amongst an entire community,” he added.

CAGE's 2022 report criticized the French government's actions under President Emmanuel Macron as constituting persecution and institutionalized Islamophobia.

The report accuses the state of engaging in systematic harassment and humiliation of Muslims, infringing upon their fundamental freedoms and rights.

In 2021, the French parliament enacted legislation to enhance the monitoring of mosques, schools, and sports clubs, purportedly to protect the nation from "radical Islamists" and uphold secular and women's rights. This law has led to the closure of several mosques and community organizations.

Source: Agencies