The French General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) has just established a map of these territories conquered by Islamism, at the request of Christophe Castaner, formulated after the attack in Villejuif. It is an extremely sensitive subject for the executive, because they do not want to “stigmatize” the Muslim community.
The DGSI is the French domestic security agency. It is charged with counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, countering cybercrime and surveillance of potentially threatening groups, organisations, and social phenomena.
The book by political scientist Bernard Rougier, The Territories Conquered by Islamism, has moved the government to launch a fight against certain community drifts, but they fear being accused of stigmatizing Muslims.
Thus, on January 5, after the attack on Villejuif, the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, sent a telegram to the prefects asking them to bring together the GEDs, namely the departmental assessment groups.
This umpteenth meeting has at least resulted a clear figure, as relayed by weekly le Journal du dimanche (JDD): The number of districts under the influence of radical Islam is 150. These are the lost territories of the Republic that have been mapped by the DGSI.
The document, classified a defense secret, is extremely sensitive and has only been disclosed to one minister, the Minister of the Interior. The other ministries concerned with the fight against ethno-cultural groups, and who met to discuss the subject on December 5 and 16, namely Justice, National Education, Health, Local Communities and Youth, have no oversight on this matter.
“The ministers are under pressure from Macron, who asked them to make strong proposals,” an expert on the file told the JDD. On November 27, Christophe Castaner had already sent the prefects a circular making “the fight against Islamism and the withdrawal from the [French]community” a “new axis of [their] action”.
But in addition to the suburbs of Paris, Lyon and Marseille, which we know are affected by the phenomenon, several cities in the Nord department are in the sights of internal intelligence.
In Maubeuge, for example, the Union of French Muslim Democrats (UDMF) obtained 40 percent of the votes at a polling station. An “alarming situation” similar to that of the agglomeration of Denin or Roubaix, where “although historic, the situation takes on worrying proportions” explained a prefect cited by JDD.
Among these territories “held” by Salafist Islam, there are less expected areas, such as Haute-Savoie or Ain, Annemasse, Bourg-en-Bresse, Oyonnax or even Bourgoin-Jallieu.
Finally, even more surprising, the DGSI notes “the appearance of microterritories which have become Salafist in improbable zones” such as Nogent-le-Rotrou, in Eure-et-Loir.
