French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asked prefects to deploy security forces in front of all Catholic and Protestant churches for the Easter weekend.
The very high level of terrorist threats and international tensions - the war in Gaza and the attack in Moscow - require extreme caution during the Easter holidays
– the French news agency AFP quoted the interior minister's memo sent to the prefect. As usual during religious holidays, the minister asked the administrative leaders to mobilize law enforcement forces in order to provide security advice to the local religious authorities. It is important to emphasize the visual control of those who enter to filter out suspicious persons, and special attention should be paid to vehicles parked near places of assembly or religion, wrote Gérald Darmanin. The minister added a handwritten note to the instruction saying
organize the physical presence of law enforcement in front of all churches, especially during Friday and weekend services. The minister also confirmed this instruction in a text message sent personally to the prefects.
Since the beginning of the year, two assassination plots have been foiled in France. One was a plan for a violent action against a Catholic religious building with a clear jihadist ideology, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office said. The suspect in the case, a 62-year-old man, was charged and remanded in custody on March 8.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Sunday evening that he would raise the security alert in France to the highest level following the attack on Friday evening in Krasnogorsk, near the Russian capital, which was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist organization. The highest security alert is usually introduced by the government for a fixed period of time when there is an imminent threat of an attack or an attack has already taken place. Extraordinary terror preparedness includes increased protection of key infrastructures, public institutions and major events, as well as warning and informing the population.
Source: MTI
Cover image: Illustration / MTI/EPA/Yoan Valat