Salafism - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Mon, 14 Jul 2014 05:09:50 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Salafism - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Anti-mosque demonstration in French Polynesia https://cathnews.co.nz/2014/07/15/anti-mosque-demonstration-french-polynesia/ Mon, 14 Jul 2014 19:03:18 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=60481

Des pétitions circulent pour s'opposer à la construction de la mosquée de Papeete, et Gaston Flosse, élu de la République, Président de la Polynésie française autonome, a annoncé samedi qu'il aurait signé une pétition lancée sur une page Facebook ("Pas de mosquée à Tahiti") mais aussi une pétition pour l'expulsion de l'imam Hicham el Berkani, Read more

Anti-mosque demonstration in French Polynesia... Read more]]> Des pétitions circulent pour s'opposer à la construction de la mosquée de Papeete, et Gaston Flosse, élu de la République, Président de la Polynésie française autonome, a annoncé samedi qu'il aurait signé une pétition lancée sur une page Facebook ("Pas de mosquée à Tahiti") mais aussi une pétition pour l'expulsion de l'imam Hicham el Berkani, qui aurait déjà réuni 2500 signatures.

Une marche de protestation contre la mosquée de Tahiti est prévue le 12 juillet à Papeete. Continue en Français

Tahiti: Ouverture de la première mosquée Le Figaro

About 1,000 people in French Polynesia have staged a demonstration marching through Papeete in protest at plans to build Tahiti's first mosque.

The rally was directed mainly at the 23-year-old imam, Hicham El Barkani, from Seine-Saint-Denis, who last year set up a prayer room in town, and is now asking for donations from Muslims in France for a Tahiti mosque.

Some attending the demonstration say El Barkain's form of Islam is dangerous while some women at the rally have been quoted as saying they fear losing their rights.

Hicham El Berkani did part of his theological training in Egypt and at the mosque of Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The mosque of Medina is associated with Salafism, a radical branch of the Sunni Moslem religion.

It is said to advocate a return to the original Islam and the implementation of Sharia.

On his return to France, El Barkani also attended the Bilal mosque in Saint-Denis, another place of worship affiliated with Salafism.

Authorities in French Polynesia have shown interest in Hicham El Barkani as a result of his connection with these radical circles.

French Polynesian authorities are also concerned that the United States has refused the presence of Hicham El Berkani on American soil.

This demonstration is the most recent of a number of protests, and attacks that have been made on Muslim property, in Papa'ete. Read more

Last year a prayer room at a Muslim Centre in was desecrated. A pig's head was deposited there and pig's blood was splashed on the walls.

According to a report in the Journal des Mosquees de France another act of desecration was said to have occurred on 27 June.

El Berkani told the Journal that a pig's head was thrown in front of the centre located 11 Rue Paul Gauguin in Pape'ete.

Read report in original French and view photographs

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Anti-mosque demonstration in French Polynesia]]> 60481 Arab spring threatened by Salafism https://cathnews.co.nz/2013/02/15/arab-spring-threatened-by-salafism/ Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:30:49 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=39217

A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters. Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia's president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House's The Read more

Arab spring threatened by Salafism... Read more]]> A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters.

Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia's president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House's The World Today. Commenting on a recent attack by Salafists - ultra-conservative Sunnis - on the US embassy in Tunis, he remarked in an unguarded moment: "We didn't realise how dangerous and violent these Salafists could be … They are a tiny minority within a tiny minority. They don't represent society or the state. They cannot be a real danger to society or government, but they can be very harmful to the image of the government."

It appears that Marzouki was wrong. Following the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid last Wednesday - which plunged the country into its biggest crisis since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution - the destabilising threat of violent Islamist extremists has emerged as a pressing and dangerous issue.

Violent Salafists are one of two groups under suspicion for Belaid's murder. The other is the shadowy, so-called neighbourhood protection group known as the Leagues of the Protection of the Revolution, a small contingent that claims to be against remnants of the old regime, but which is accused of using thugs to stir clashes at opposition rallies and trade union gatherings.

The left accuses these groups of affiliation with the ruling moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, and say it has failed to root out the violence. The party denies any link or control to the groups. But it is the rise of Salafist-associated political violence that is causing the most concern in the region. Banned in Tunisia under the 23-year regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which ruthlessly cracked down on all forms of Islamism, Salafists in Tunisia have become increasingly vocal since the 2011 revolution. Continue reading

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