Mayor of French ‘Jihadi Capital’ Calls on the State to Stop Islamism from Flourishing in his Town

The New Normal - French Islamization

A file photo shows a court sketch made on April 4, 2018 in Paris of defendants from Lunel during their trial at the Paris courthouse for terrorist conspiracy © Benoit Peyrucq / AFP

The mayor of a southern French town known in the media as the ‘Jihadi capital’ and ‘French Molenbeek’ has called upon the state to prevent the “radicalized Muslim community” from “flourishing” in Lunel.

“I solemnly appeal to the state to prevent fundamentalist Islamic movements from flourishing freely in Lunel,” Mayor Claude Arnaud wrote in an emotional letter, first seen by France Bleu newspaper. The town has been hit hard “by the consequences of radical Islam, which is the gateway to Islamic terrorism,” Arnaud wrote.

With 26,000 residents, the coastal settlement on the Mediterranean, 20km from Montpellier, has become an unofficial symbol of jihadism. Earlier in April, five people were tried for supplying extremists in Syria. Some of them were also accused of briefly traveling to the conflict-stricken country to join the ranks of terrorist groups. Four of the accused received prison sentences, while the fifth was released.

“In Lunel, we have a radicalized Muslim community… One day you summon all your courage to take certain measures,” Arnaud said, apparently referring to his appeal to the state.

The name of the small town, with a record unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent, hit the headlines back in 2013, when reports emerged that around 20 people from Lunel between 18 and 30 left for Syria. Eight of them were reportedly killed battling alongside terrorists.  

Following the infamous trial, Lunel entered the media spotlight, the mayor said, describing the situation as a “true media massacre.” The small town was nicknamed the “Jihadi capital” and the “French Molenbeek.” The latter is an infamous Brussels suburb known for being a “hotbed of extremism,” as a number of Islamists behind the Paris and Brussels attacks grew up and lived there.

In late March, the mayor advocated a motion calling for extremists who served their time in prison to be banned from returning to the town. The text of the motion was then sent to the authorities of the Hérault department where Lunel is located.

Terrorist attacks in France have left over 200 dead across the country since January 2015. The biggest loss of life took place in November of 2015, when at least 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, a northern Parisian suburb. In 2016, at least 84 people were killed in Nice when a truck driven by an Islamic State sympathizer plowed through crowds during Bastille Day celebrations.

A recent terrorist-related assault took place in southern France in March, when a suspected IS gunman opened fire at police officers and later stormed a local supermarket, killing four and injuring dozens.

It seems obvious that radicalism is being taught in Lunel. It may require the closing of a mosque or three to stop it.

Last Living Suspect from Paris Attacks Gets 20 Years for Belgium Gun Battle

By Ed Adamczyk

Salah Abdelsan, pictured on a wanted poster, was given a 20-year sentence Monday for a conviction

of attempted murder. Abdelsan is the last living suspect in the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

Photo courtesy Belgian Federal Police

UPI -- The last living suspect in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks received a 20-year sentence Monday for his involvement in a gunfight with Belgian police.

Salah Abdeslam was tried and convicted of attempted murder for his role in a 2016 shootout with police, as they came to search a house where he was hiding in March 2016.

One accomplice was killed, but Abdeslam and co-defendant Sofien Ayari escaped.

Abdeslam was captured three days later in Brussels' Molenbeek neighborhood.

Ayari also received a 20-year sentence Monday after his conviction. Neither man appeared in court to hear their punishment.

Abdeslan's 2016 arrest marked the end of a four-month manhunt. He was extradited to France in 2016 and remains in custody as he awaits a trial for his alleged involvement in a night of terror in Paris.

Large-scale coordinated attacks -- which included bombings and shootings -- on Nov. 13, 2015, killed 130 people and injured more than 400 others. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in modern French history.

Brussels District Hosts 51 NGOs with Suspected Terrorist Links – Report

© AFP

As many as 51 out of more than 1,600 non-profit organizations and activist groups registered in the mainly Muslim Molenbeek district of the Belgian capital have suspected links to terrorism, Belgium's De Morgen daily says, citing a confidential police report.

In most cases, the organizations were regarded by the police as having links to terrorism when they had a director, an employee or a volunteer suspected of some terrorism-related activities, De Morgen reports, citing a paper, which was drawn up a year since the Belgian Interior ministry has launched an anti-terrorist operation dubbed the Canal Plan.

The checks conducted in all 1,617 NGOs registered in Molenbeek also showed that 102 of them are allegedly involved in some criminal activities, while 93 ceased to exist due to inactivity and 344 will come to an end in the near future.

During the operation, police also compiled a list of terrorist suspects, including 72 people. The investigation showed that 26 of them left Belgium for Syria and Iraq to fight for the extremist groups while 46 suspects, including returnees, potential recruits and those who failed to travel to the Middle East, are now in Belgium.

The report also says that 20 terrorist suspects are now in prison while the rest, 26, are “closely monitored.” Meanwhile, the paper stresses that “de-radicalization” specialists were assigned to only five of the suspects returned from the Middle East.

At the same time, no one has left Belgium to join terrorist groups in Syria or Iraq over the past 12 months, it says, adding that one suspect attempted to do that but failed.

The Canal Plan was presented by the Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon in February 2016 and was aimed at enhancing control over the jihadist activities and fighting radicalism in eight specific municipalities: Saint-Gilles, Anderlecht, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Koekelberg, Vilvoorde, Schaerbeek and the Brussels City.

The plan envisaged spending € 39 million ($ 41.9 million) and deploying 300 additional police officers to “clean up” the troubled communities with specific attention being paid to Molenbeek, which was considered a “terrorist hotbed” after high-profile terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016.

“We are going to clean up Molenbeek,” Jambon promised after the Paris attacks. Over the year since the launch of the operation, Belgian police have conducted door-to-door checks and searches in more than 8,600 houses and carried out ID checks on 22,668 Molenbeek residents – a quarter of the district population.

“Such checks took place before,” the local police chief, Johan De Becker told Belgian La Derniere Heure daily, adding that, “since the Canal Plan [operation has been launched], we check every new registration and every apartment in the same building and then conduct another check in a few weeks.”

According to the report, police also conducted 104 additional checks and monitored the activities of 6,168 people, 227 of whom were subsequently detained.

Meanwhile, the actions of the police provoked an angry reaction from Molenbeek NGOs as a number of them filed a complaint about “police brutality,” claiming that there were instances of “intimidation” and “harassment” during the police checks.

Ahmed El Khannouss, a member of the Humanist Democratic Centre Party and a local councilor, told De Morgen that “the methods used by police were controversial.” He also added that he sent a letter to Jambon, outlining his concerns.

In response, Jambon’s spokesman said that the Interior Ministry “wants to deal with the hotbeds of extremism” but stressed that “all such [actions] must go hand in hand with efforts [aimed at] winning the hearts of the young people [in the area].”

Molenbeek fell into disrepute after it was revealed that many terrorists, who were involved into the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks, grew up and lived there.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind behind the Paris attacks, the Abdeslam brothers, who were involved in the terrorist attacks in the French capital, and Mohamed Abrini, who was also involved in the Brussels attacks, all resided in Molenbeek.

In early February, the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (OCAM), a special body that assesses the level of terrorist threat in Belgium, warned in its report that an increasing number of mosques and Islamic centers in Belgium are controlled by the Wahhabis while radical TV stations and online media operate freely and Wahhabi literature can be found in most Islamic bookshops.

At the very least, Wahabism needs to be completely removed from Europe, unless Europe wants Sharia Law to replace their own some day.

In November 2016, the Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders also warned the EU of an increasing influx of returning fighters who could carry out terrorist attacks in Europe.

Molenbeek, Brussels

Is Molenbeek Becoming a No-Go Zone?

2 police cars set ablaze in Brussels’ mostly

Muslim district of Molenbeek

© recolteur exclu / YouTube

Two police cars were torched in the mainly Muslim Brussels area of Molenbeek on Friday night, local media reported. One of the cars was burned in the street where key suspect in the Paris attacks Salah Abdeslam was arrested earlier.

The first car was burnt in Quatre-Vents Street where Abdeslam was detained in March this year, RTL Belgian TV reported. The vehicle caught fire shortly after the two officers had left it, the Belgium RTBF channel reported.

Firefighters were called to extinguish the blaze. The police vehicle was completely destroyed in the fire, media said.

Shortly after the first incident, police received a call saying that another police car had been torched near De Roovere Avenue, next to a police station.

The vehicle was also severely damaged. RTL Belgium cited unconfirmed police reports, saying that a Molotov cocktail might have been thrown at the car. Le Soir newspaper suggested it was an arson attack, citing official sources.

An 18-year-old man was arrested shortly after both incidents.

Later, Belgian media wrote that a father living in De Roovere Avenue called an ambulance for his son, who had severely burned his hands. Belgian media theorized there might be a possible link between the incidents.

Molenbeek, a predominantly migrant area in Brussels, is often referred to as an “Islamist hotspot.” Paris attacks suspects, including brothers Brahim and Salah Abdeslam, Mohamed Abrini (also involved in the Brussels attacks), and the mastermind behind the attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud grew up and lived in Molenbeek.

The district has witnessed repeated raids following the Paris and Brussels bombings.

Belgium is on high alert after the attacks in Brussels on March 22. The Belgian capital was hit by twin suicide bombings at Brussels Airport and Maelbeek Metro.

The Metro station was not far from the building housing the EU Commission and the Council of the European Union, as well as NATO’s headquarters.

How long before the police and fire fighters refuse to go into Molenbeek? That's a scary thought!