"This mosque will be closed, the Prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis will sign this ban tonight," said the French Minister of the Interior during an interview

France closes the Pantini mosque that broadcast the video of the beheaded professor

photo_camera AFP - France closes the Pantini mosque that broadcast the video of the beheaded professor

The French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanini, said that the Pantin mosque will be closed from Wednesday morning. Darmanini posted a video on his Facebook page denouncing the street where the beheaded professor, Samuel Paty, had shown caricatures of Mohammed last Friday.

"This mosque will be closed, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis will sign this ban tonight," the minister said during an interview on TF1, referring to "six months of ban" if the order signed by the prefect is validated by the courts. This, he said, evokes a decision taken "the day after this absolutely despicable attack" on the murder.

El ministro del Interior francés, Gérald Darmanini

According to the French politician, the leader of the Pantin mosque himself "conveyed the message that this teacher must be intimidated, by passing on the address of the school".

Paty, a 47-year-old geography and history teacher, was murdered last Friday in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, on the outskirts of Paris, after showing cartoons of the prophet in a class on freedom of expression.

The author of the attack, Abdullah Anzorov, who was shot the same day by the forces of law and order, was an 18-year-old Russian refugee of Chechen origin who lived in Evreux, some 100 kilometres northwest of Paris, and had a police record for minor offences.

Fighting radicalism

In the last few hours, the Minister for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, said that "social networks have not yet taken seriously what is happening with hate speech online", in an interview with the radio station "RTL", shortly before a meeting in which she received the heads of some of these networks in France, such as Twitter, Facebook or Snapchat.

"I cannot accept that children are met with videos of stoning, decapitation, terrible photos and that they are indoctrinated. Social networks must take their responsibility," he stressed.

Mezquita de Pantin

The French government wants social networks to take the fight against the hate messages circulating on their platforms more seriously, as it believes they played a significant role in last Friday's Jihadist attack on Professor Samuel Paty.

Some fifteen people are being questioned by the police to determine their possible involvement in the attack in which Paty was beheaded at Conflans Sainte Honorine, including the father of a schoolgirl who launched an online campaign against the history teacher, particularly with a controversial video.

More in Society