“Everyone suffers because of one person.”

The French police closed the Great Mosque of Bantan because it published statements that incited hatred and violence that would contribute to the commission of terrorist acts, for which the faithful commented that they were being punished by one person.

Bantan: The French authorities will close a mosque in the suburb of Paris, which they consider a forum of “extremist Islamic movements” that promote a speech that “may facilitate” the brutal murder of a teacher, but the faithful who attend this place consider that they are “subject to punishment”.

About 1,300 faithful attend the mosque, and it will be closed from Wednesday night for “six months”, according to a decree issued by the administrative authorities of the Seine-Saint-Denis region.

Three policemen commented on the fence of the “Great Mosque of Bantan”, which sits amid buildings in this popular city northeast of Paris, before noon on Tuesday, the authorities’ decision to close the place.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan announced the decision on Monday night.

Authorities seize the mosque and share it via Facebook on October 9. A videotape shows the father of a third grader at Bois-Don High School in the Evelyn area expressing anger after a lesson on freedom expression taught by teacher Samuel Patti on October 5 First / October.

On the 16th of this month, an eighteen-year-old Chechen refugee beheaded the aforementioned history and geography teacher on a street between the school and his home.

“The Bantan Great Mosque should be considered to have issued statements inciting hatred and violence that contribute to the commission of terrorist acts,” the decision stated.

The mosque’s curator, Muhammad Hanish, admitted Monday that he made a “mistake.”

“I do not support what was said in the first part (of the tape) that talked about cartoons, but the second part, when I point the finger at Muslims in the classroom, it scares many Muslims who fear the beginning of a new discrimination, “Hanish explained.

The authorities’ decision to close the mosque raised the surprise of those attending the place on Tuesday.

“I am against what happened to the teacher, but the decision to close the mosque is regrettable, as Islam opposes all forms of violence,” said Nadia, 46, who has been praying at the mosque. for a year.

Musa, a 30-year-old sports teacher, said: “Because of a mistake made by one person (sharing the tape), all believers suffer. With this closure, we are being punished,” indicating that he will move to pray in other mosques. close.

Bertrand Kern, the socialist mayor of Bantan, said that Hanish “committed a great folly that I condemn”, but fears that it “tarnishes the image of all the faithful, who are the vast majority of the moderates.”

The decision to temporarily close the mosque is part of a counter-campaign launched by the Ministry of the Interior, which promised to wage “war against the enemies of the republic” and launched a series of operations aimed at the Islamic tendency after the murder of Samuel Patti. for whom a national ceremony is held on Wednesday.

According to the decree of the authorities, the decision to close is also based on the “ties with the Salafists” established by the mosque and the frequent presence of people “involved in the jihadist movement” and the personality of the imam of the mosque, Ibrahim Doukoure. , about which there are suspicions.

The decree stated that D’Akoure was “involved in the extremist Islamic movement in the Ile-de-France region”, had trained for two years at an “extremist institute” in Yemen and took three of his children to school. illegal.

The Seine-Saint-Denis district authorities closed this school on October 8, denouncing “indescribable conditions” in it and an act “outside the law and republican principles”.

For his part, Kern said that “no one has wanted so far to allow him to say that the Islamists are in control of the mosque,” acknowledging that “an imam (Ducuret) poses a problem.”

In response to questions from Agence France-Presse, many young believers said that Ducure is a “very good” and “calm” magnet and that “everything he says is positive.”

However, older people describe it differently. A man whispered, asking not to be identified: “I don’t like the place very much, because there are + Islamists + here, but I can’t say anything, I don’t want to face problems.”