France's interior minister says police have shut down three mosques and arrested 232 people under emergency laws passed following last month's Paris terrorist attacks.
Bernard Cazeneuve said this is the first time the French government has taken such action against places of worship suspected of nurturing what he called "Islamist radicalization."
Police raided one of the mosques in the city of Lagny-sur-Marne east of Paris Wednesday, placing nine people under house arrest and banning 22 from leaving the country, according to Cazeneuve. He said the other two mosques were in Gennevilliers, northwest of Paris, and in the southeastern city of Lyon.
Cazeneuve said since the attacks authorities have carried out more than 2,000 raids across the country and seized 334 weapons, several dozen of them military grade.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, which left 130 people dead and wounded hundreds of others.
