The Lissen Institute in Colombes in the Hauts-de-Seine department, which specialises in language teaching, was closed by the prefecture on Wednesday May 7. The faculty was suspected of having ‘Islamic tendencies’.
A preventive closure. An establishment specialising in language teaching in Colombes in the Hauts-de-Seine department was closed by the prefecture on Wednesday May 7. The reason for this? According to the information provided by Europe 1, it was suspected that it was in fact a Koranic school.
The prefecture cited the dilapidation of the building, the lack of fire extinguishers and the blocking of emergency exits to speed up the closure of the site. According to Europe 1, a recent inspection revealed at least 16 defects, including the obsolescence of the building.
Following this inspection, it was decided that the establishment, which was open to the public, no longer guaranteed the safety of visitors, particularly minors.
These shortcomings concealed a much larger problem, namely that of an Islamic extremist project in the facility. According to information from Europe 1, inspectors detected symbols associated with fundamentalist Islam in the school during their inspections.
The prefecture revealed that it had observed ‘several notices with adults and children without faces’ during inspections, which according to some specialists corresponds to a Salafi or Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, the radio station said.
In a statement published on its website, the Lissen Institute confirms that the premises have been closed since May 7. It does not deny the shortcomings in terms of fire safety regulations, but it ‘strongly denies the accusations of Islamism that the prefect has spread in the media, without any evidence other than mere suspicion and slander’.