The respite was short-lived. The mosque in Pessac, near Bordeaux, is once again the target of the Gironde prefecture, this time in the person of Abdouramane Ridouane, the president of the mosque’s association, who is facing eviction proceedings.
In 2022, the Pessac mosque was temporarily closed by the prefecture for promoting “radical Islam” and “Salafist ideology” (closure order). Criticism of Israeli policy was also cited in the closure order. This order was annulled by the Bordeaux Administrative Court, a decision subsequently upheld by the Conseil d’Etat.
However, the same arguments are now being used in the Prefecture’s request to deport Mr. Ridouane to his country of origin, Niger. The commission responsible for examining the Prefecture’s request will meet on Friday May 31 at 2pm, at the Bordeaux Judicial Court.
As a result of this relentless attack on the Pessac mosque, the religious building has been defaced seven times in the last two years, with Islamophobic and racist insults. The most recent was on May 25, when the racist group “Action directe identitaire” wrote “Imams étrangers hors de France” on one of the walls.
