A French court has overruled authorities’ ban on a Muslim gathering over Easter weekend, saying claims it could become a political target were not proven.
The Annual Gathering of Muslims of France was set to take place from Friday to Monday in Bourget north of Paris, but Paris police blocked the event for fear of “far-right groups” and other disruptions. Authorities claimed the event was “exposed to a significant terrorist risk targeting the Muslim community” due to taking place within a “particularly tense international and national context.”
The Paris Administrative Court ruled on Friday that the ban was unlawful and that the evidence provided by police “did not establish the risk of counter-demonstrations, or that the gathering would be targeted by far-right groups.”
The gathering was organized by the Muslims of France, the largest Islamic group in the country. The French government called the organization “the national branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in France” in a report last May.
The French National Assembly voted to place the Muslim Brotherhood on the European list of terrorist organizations earlier this year. The international movement’s stated goal is the imposition of Sharia law by peaceful, political means.
The now-suspended police order banning the gathering, which was made at the request of Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, also warned about potential risks “conducted remotely by foreign influences.” Nunez cited the attempted bombing of a Bank of America office last weekend.
That attack is believed to be linked to the pro-Iran Harakat Ashab al Yamin al Islamiya, a recently established terrorism outfit that has claimed responsibility for amateur attacks across the European continent.
A man in his early twenties was arrested on Wednesday, along with three minors, whom he allegedly paid to place an explosive device outside the office. The man claimed that “a third party, presenting themself as an intermediary, had approached him via a social network’s messaging service to have the explosive device planted as part of a personal vendetta.” Sites across Paris have been subject to heightened security since the incident.
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For years, France has struggled to control the rise of what the government calls “political Islam” in the otherwise secular society.
Opponents of Islamism on both sides of the aisle have sought to use the nation’s robust legal framework for maintaining secularism as an avenue to combat forced veiling, unaccredited Muslim schools, and Sharia courts.
