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TechnoratiBan forces Muslims off streets for Friday prayers
France on Friday introduced a ban on praying in the street forcing thousands of muslims into temporary alternative spaces for their day of prayer. Interior Minister Claude Gueant has said that praying in the street is a direct attack on the principle of secularism.
In Paris, a former barracks north of the city limits is the new prayer area for those living in the multi-ethnic Goutte d’Or neighbourhood. The barracks has two 750-and 600-square-metre rooms which can hold up to 2,700 people.
The neighbourhood has seen the faithful overflow into the streets since a nearby mosque where 4,000 people could pray closed years ago. The area's mosques are to be closed for at least the next three Fridays in order to encourage people to go to the renovated mosques.
A new 4,000-square-metre Institute for Islamic Cultures, costing 30 million euros, is set to open in 2013.
In the southern port city of Marseille, the authorities say they will provide a 1,000-square-metre building for Friday prayers.
“This provision is temporary and should allow the organisations running mosques to find long-term solutions,” said police.
France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim populaton, earlier this year introduced a controversial law banning the face-covering burqa
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(3) Réactions
freedom
I see this as an attack on the basic natural right that all humans have to freedom of religion.
POLL: Is France right to ban street prayers?
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Freedom
Zadoc, can you 'hand on heart' say that jewish, catholic or protestant believers would be allowed unfettered access to practice their own religions in the streets of middle east and/or muslim countries? I don't think so! As a practising Christian who also believes in tolerance and democracy, for their own safety and protection, as well as to allow other people to pass unhindered in the streets, I think the French muslims should say their prayers in private, be it in a mosque or in the facility they have been offered. One man's freedom should never be at the expense of another one's - and yes we all have rights but we also have responsibilities.
prayers in the streets in Paris
No one stops muslims from praying. But blocking streets to pray there is an attack on all the rest of the population and their basic natural right of freedom. Doesn't "Zadoc" get the difference ? The only problem is that France waited 10 years for this interdiction instead of nipping it in the bud when this provocation first started.