Austria closes mosques and tackles imams

vienna - The Austrian government closes seven mosques and rejects several imams. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that there is no place in his country for 'parallel societies, political Islam and radicalization.'

The authorities are investigating whether imams have violated a ban on financing from abroad, said Minister Herbert Kickl (Home Affairs). In at least two things it would already have been established that clergymen must leave the country. Research is still being done on dozens of other imams.

Kurz has been in charge of a coalition with his Christian Democrat ÖVP (Austrian People's Party) and the right-wing populist FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) since last December.