Police shut down a suspected radical mosque east of Paris in a huge<\/p>\n
security operation Wednesday, the third to be closed since France declared
\na state of emergency after last month\u2019s Paris attacks.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said \u201cthree pseudo-cultural
\nassociations\u201d linked to the mosque at Lagny-sur-Marne were also being
\ndissolved, the first time the government has used its special powers to
\nwind up such groups.<\/p>\n
Two other mosques were closed last week at Gennevilliers in the northern
\nsuburbs of Paris and in the small town of L\u2019Arbresle near the central city
\nof Lyon.<\/p>\n
The closures are part of a huge security crackdown after 130 people were
\nkilled in the jihadist attacks on Paris on November 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch measures to close mosques because of radicalisation have never
\nbefore been taken by any government, including during the last state of
\nemergency in 2005\u201d after rioting broke out across France\u2019s troubled
\nsuburbs, Cazeneuve said in a statement.<\/p>\n
He said a nine-millimetre revolver had been discovered during the raid in
\nwhich one of the \u201cleaders\u201d of the Lagny-sur-Marne mosque was arrested.
\nInvestigators also found an illegal madrassa, or koranic school, and a
\nhidden computer hard disk.<\/p>\n
Nine people have since been placed under house arrest and 22 banned from
\nleaving the country, the minister added.<\/p>\n
The assets of imam Mohamed Hammoumi, who ran the mosque and the cultural
\nassociations until he left to live in Egypt in 2014, were frozen in April.<\/p>\n
Authorities said Wednesday the prayer room in L\u2019Arbresle had been used by
\nextremists suspected of having contacts with others in Syria.<\/p>\n
Cazeneuve later told parliament that there had been 2,235 searches leading
\nto 263 arrests since the three-month state of emergency began.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 15 days we have seized a third of the weapons of war we would normally
\nrecover in a year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Of the 334 firearms seized, 145 were rifles and 34 assault weapons.<\/p>\n
Cazeneuve said 330 people \u201cwho had been under surveillance by the security
\nservices for links to radical Islam have been put under house arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a pig\u2019s head was discovered Tuesday in front of a Muslim prayer
\nroom at Ecquevilly in the Yvelines west of Paris.<\/p>\n
Police said worshippers found it sitting in a flower pot when they arrived
\nfor prayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Police shut down a suspected radical mosque east of Paris in a huge security operation Wednesday, the third to be closed since France declared a state of emergency after last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n