A man makes a phone call near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, May 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
Boosting investigation into online hate speech, dissolving certain associations from the French Muslim community and sending home hundreds of foreigners who are on the police radar for radicalization, that's how France is gearing up to combat "Islamist terrorism," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio, Darmanin said police operations are underway against people who have expressed their support for the assassination of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old history teacher beheaded last week in a Paris suburb.
"Police operations have taken place and more will take place, concerning tens of individuals, not necessarily related to the investigation (into the teacher killing)," he said.
The minister added he would propose, during next cabinet meeting, to dissolve 51 groups due to their eventual links with extremist religious beliefs to "send a message: not a minute's respite for the enemies of the Republic."
France is preparing to expel 231 foreigners on a government watch list for suspected radicalization. That concerns 180 individuals who are currently in prison and will be deported at the end of their jail term. In addition, 51 others will be arrested soon, according to Darmanin.
On Friday afternoon, an 18-year-old refugee of Chechen origin decapitated the teacher before being shot dead by police as he refused to surrender. The teacher had reportedly shown in his class, as part of a discussion on freedom of expression, cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.
