France to inspect close to 80 mosques for extremist links

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Police stand in front of the Mosque of Bayonne, southwestern France after a shooting occurred there last year. (AFP pic)

PARIS: The French government will launch a “massive and unprecedented” wave of measures to combat religious extremism, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday, adding that one step would be to inspect 76 mosques.

Darmanin said in a statement on Twitter that some of the mosques could be closed as a result.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government has responded to several deadly Islamist attacks in recent weeks with a promise to crack down on what some public officials have called “the enemy within”.