The anti-separatism law which was passed in 2021 by the Macron government with the intention of clamping down on civil society, has been successfully challenged by three organisations in less than a month. Each resisted and managed to check mate the government after it attempted to dissolve the groups. The Mosque of Pessac, which had been accused of “promoting radical Islam and preaching Salafi ideology” was threatened with forced closure for a period of six months. Its crime? Posting a message of support to Palestinians and criticising the government’s “reorganisation of French Islam” which s…