France Shuts Down Four Mosques in Historic First

French police targeted and shut down a fourth mosque as part of the nation’s state of emergency on Wednesday, which has resulted in hundreds of raids and interrogations following the Paris attacks. The senate extended the executive privileges for three months and is considering writing them into the constitution.

"Terrorism is what's threatening our freedoms today, not the state of emergency," said French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeuneuve. He admitted that the measure’s were a first in the nation’s history, as the country has never before witnessed the closure of mosques over fears of radicalization.

The latest raid was in Lagny-sur-Marne, 22 miles from Paris, on a mosque found to have an unofficial Koranic school and jihadist documents—a “pseudo-cultural association” by “preachers of hate,” allege authorities. Police arrested the owner of a .9mm revolver, prohibited 22 people from leaving the country and have placed nine people under house arrest. The mosque’s previous imam, who is suspected to have recruited his students to fight for the Islamic State group and the al-Nusra Front, had his assets frozen earlier this year. Other raids since last week were on mosques in Lyon, Nice and Gennevilliers, a Parisian suburb.

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Civil liberty groups, unions, lawyers and activists have criticized France for exploiting the state of emergency to profile its Muslim population and crack down on protesters at the COP21 conference. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has pushed for even greater use of the state’s powers, saying there is “no place for enemies of the republic.” He did however state that radicalization is occurring more online than in mosques.

.@Barakacity https://t.co/4khOfq0kSy

— CCIF (@ccif) December 2, 2015

The Collective Against Islamophobia in France has noted a sharp rise in Islamophobia and targeted state actions against France’s Muslim community, with many Muslim respondents expressing concern over their jobs after being placed under house arrest.

A commission on Wednesday announced that it would monitor bodies with extended powers to investigate potential abuse. Cazeneuve noted that in the 15 days since the state of emergency was initiated, police seized a third of the arms they usually seize in a year.

While French President Francois Hollande has employed the rhetoric of war as a justification for the measures, according to human rights lawyer Patrick Baudoin, “We are not at war, we are not in a state of war. … We had wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We had Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. War allows Isis to demonize the west and give it legitimacy to attack it."

Why should French Muslims pay for the failures of the government? Two waves of terrorist attacks within 10 months! Yet nobody got sacked

— Yasser Louati (@yasserlouati) December 2, 2015