GETTY French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is to clamp down on radical islam calling it 'poison'

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The comments come following the murder of 86-year-old French Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel who was killed on the altar during morning mass last Tuesday and three separate massacres in the country in just over a year. In a newspaper interview Prime Minister Valls says the Republic has been forced to intervene to drive out the "poison" of radical Islamism. And he has announced plans to shut down mosques supporting Salafism, an ultra-orthodox religious-political ideology based on a belief in "physical" jihadism practised by some followers of the Sunni faith.

GETTY Muslims pay tribute to Father Hamel who was killed in Normandy

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He said: "All Salafists are not jihadists ... but almost all are jihadist Salafists... "A terrible poison has spread. "Slowly, insidiously, on a background of influences from abroad and rising communalism, developed against a model of society, a model against the Republic and its values. "Many Muslims in France are taken hostage by the fundamentalist Salafism, who worship a weapon against others. "The places of worship that house preachers will be closed systematically.

"It is necessary to rethink the training of imams and chaplains completely. "France must become a European centre of excellence in the teaching of Islamic theology." The people of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray have united in their revulsion at the murder of Father Jacques who served on the town's interfaith committee. He will be buried this morning following a public funeral in the 12th Century Rouen cathedral, in Normandy.

GETTY Leaders from the Mosque in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray will not bury attackers

It is necessary to rethink the training of imams and chaplains completely Prime Minister Manuel Valls

And the town's Muslim community have refused to bury the 19-year-old men responsible for the heinous crime. Mohammed Karabila, imam of one of the town's mosques, told Le Parisien: "We're not going to taint Islam with this person. "We won't participate in preparing the body or the burial." The French public took to the streets of Paris following the murder of Father Jacques in Normandy last week. Many were openly furious when Mr Valls visited a memorial service to remember the victims of the Nice terror attack. He was booed as he signed the book of condolence on the Promenade des Anglais where 84 people died and scores more were injured during the Bastille Day massacre.

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