French Court Upholds Ban on \u201cAnnual Gathering of Muslims of West,\u201d Sparking Wide Criticism
\n——————————————
\nA French court has upheld a decision by local authorities in the Loire-Atlantique department to ban the \u201cAnnual Gathering of Muslims of the West,\u201d which had been scheduled to take place in the western city of Nantes. <\/p>\n
The ruling has drawn criticism from local officials and event organizers, who said the decision deprived thousands of Muslims of a social and religious occasion they had been awaiting.<\/p>\n
Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland announced that the city\u2019s administrative court had approved the prefecture\u2019s decision to prohibit the event, noting that the ban was issued just one day before it was due to begin.<\/p>\n
Rolland expressed regret over the ruling, saying it had deprived thousands of Muslim citizens and their families of an annual gathering they were accustomed to attending. She stressed that \u201cthe Republic must bring people together, not divide them,\u201d and expressed solidarity with the organizers and participants who had planned to attend.<\/p>\n
The Loire-Atlantique prefecture said on Friday that Prefect Fabrice Rigoulet-Roze had ordered the ban under instructions from French Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez. Authorities said the decision was based on concerns that some participants, including officials from the \u201cMuslims of France\u201d association, might make statements that could be considered unlawful or contrary to republican principles and human dignity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
French Court Upholds Ban on \u201cAnnual Gathering of Muslims of West,\u201d Sparking Wide Criticism —————————————— A French court has upheld a decision by local authorities in the Loire-Atlantique department to ban the \u201cAnnual Gathering of Muslims of the West,\u201d which had been scheduled to take place in the western city of Nantes. The ruling has …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\n