19 detained in French crackdown on radicals
Source: Agencies |
March 31, 2012, Saturday
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FRENCH police detained 19 people yesterday as they launched a crackdown on suspected Islamist extremists in cities around the country, President Nicolas Sarkozy said, promising more raids to come.
Tensions are high following a spate of killings in southern France by a radical Islamist that left seven people dead and two wounded and ended up with police killing the gunman last week after a 32-hour standoff.
But French Interior Minister Claude Gueant told journalists "there is no known link" between those detained yesterday and Mohamed Merah, the 23-year-old Frenchman who claimed responsibility for the shootings in Toulouse and Montauban.
Sarkozy gave no details about the reasons for yesterday's arrests. "It's in connection with a form of Islamist radicalism," he said on Europe-1 radio. "There will be other operations that will continue and that will allow us to expel from our national territory a certain number of people who have no reason to be here."
Sarkozy said he didn't know whether the 19 detainees were part of any network.
A police investigator said that the anti-terrorist unit of the Criminal Brigade detained five men before dawn in Paris who had suspected links to an Islamist movement. Weapons were also seized, said the official.
The other arrests took place in Toulouse, Marseille, Nantes and Lyon, the official added.
In Nantes, Mohammed Achamlane, the head of Forsane Alizza, a radical Muslim group that was formed two years ago, was among the detained. French officials had banned the group in February.
Merah, who espoused radical Islamist views and said had links to al-Qaida, was buried near Toulouse on Thursday.
Three Jewish schoolchildren, three paratroopers and a rabbi were killed in the worst terrorist attacks in France since the 1990s, slayings that revived concerns about homegrown Islamist radicals.
Public order and security are high up on the agenda as Sarkozy seeks reelection in the upcoming presidential poll that kicks off on April 22.
French Muslims have worried about a backlash after Merah's attacks, and French leaders have urged the public not to equate Islam with terrorism.
But concerns about radical Islam are high and the government on Thursday banned several international Muslim clerics from entering France for a conference of the UOIF, a fundamentalist Islamic group.
Tensions are high following a spate of killings in southern France by a radical Islamist that left seven people dead and two wounded and ended up with police killing the gunman last week after a 32-hour standoff.
But French Interior Minister Claude Gueant told journalists "there is no known link" between those detained yesterday and Mohamed Merah, the 23-year-old Frenchman who claimed responsibility for the shootings in Toulouse and Montauban.
Sarkozy gave no details about the reasons for yesterday's arrests. "It's in connection with a form of Islamist radicalism," he said on Europe-1 radio. "There will be other operations that will continue and that will allow us to expel from our national territory a certain number of people who have no reason to be here."
Sarkozy said he didn't know whether the 19 detainees were part of any network.
A police investigator said that the anti-terrorist unit of the Criminal Brigade detained five men before dawn in Paris who had suspected links to an Islamist movement. Weapons were also seized, said the official.
The other arrests took place in Toulouse, Marseille, Nantes and Lyon, the official added.
In Nantes, Mohammed Achamlane, the head of Forsane Alizza, a radical Muslim group that was formed two years ago, was among the detained. French officials had banned the group in February.
Merah, who espoused radical Islamist views and said had links to al-Qaida, was buried near Toulouse on Thursday.
Three Jewish schoolchildren, three paratroopers and a rabbi were killed in the worst terrorist attacks in France since the 1990s, slayings that revived concerns about homegrown Islamist radicals.
Public order and security are high up on the agenda as Sarkozy seeks reelection in the upcoming presidential poll that kicks off on April 22.
French Muslims have worried about a backlash after Merah's attacks, and French leaders have urged the public not to equate Islam with terrorism.
But concerns about radical Islam are high and the government on Thursday banned several international Muslim clerics from entering France for a conference of the UOIF, a fundamentalist Islamic group.
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