France declared ’emergency alert for attacks’, the highest anti-terrorism status, Sunday at 10.20pm. This was decided in a meeting between President Emmanuel Macron and his Security Council, in the face of attacks on Moscow by ISIS K, of Afghan and Pakistani origin, with jihadists recruited in Central Asia.
According to the authorities, they received “Threats in French schools and high schools”.
Tomorrow there will be a meeting of Vigipirate, the anti-terrorism surveillance plan.
“The Prime Minister has asked the Secretary General of Defense and National Security, under his authority, to convene a meeting early tomorrow morning to convene all security services affected by the increased level of Vigipirate,” a spokesperson for Matignon.
“Moscow’s claim for the attack comes from the Islamic State of Khorasan. However, this organization threatens France and has been involved in numerous recently foiled attacks in several European countries, including Germany and France,” the prime minister’s office said in Matignon.
France, which had returned to level 3 of the Vigipirate plan (“attack alert”) after the Arras attack, had reduced its alert level on January 15. Therefore, the attack on Moscow encourages the government to strengthen surveillance.
At the end of the Security Council chaired by Emmanuel Macron, dedicated this evening to the “Moscow attack and its consequences”, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced that the emergency alert “attack alert” has been declared in France.
“Considering the Islamic State (ISIS) claim of responsibility for the attack and the threats weighing on our country, we have decided to raise the vigilpirate position to its highest level: attack alert,” the prime minister wrote tonight on . .
The “attack emergency” level can be established after an attack or if an identified, unlocated terrorist group intervenes. It allows authorities “the exceptional mobilization of resources” in many areas, both for investigations and for the search for possible suspects, accomplices or attackers.
In October 2018, during the attack on the Strasbourg Christmas market, which left five dead and eleven injured, the perpetrator, Chérif Chekatt, was persecuted by the authorities for more than 48 hours, before being shot dead by fire in the Neudorf neighborhood.
Exceptional measures
This “attack alert” allows the state to take exceptional measures.
“This level is set for a limited period: the moment of crisis management. It also allows the dissemination of information that can protect citizens in a crisis situation,” indicates the Vigipirate website.
It provides for “exceptional measures to alert the population” and “exceptional measures to prevent any risk of imminent or subsequent attack”. The system, updated after the wave of terrorist attacks in 2015-2016, also leads to the establishment of strengthened border controls. A part of the plan is classified as “reserved for defense” and can only be consulted by state institutions and some private operators.
In an extremely irritating context of conflict between Hamas and Israel, the terrorist threat is more relevant than ever in France. Thursday, Emmanuel Macron announced the mobilization of 10,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers of Operation Sentinel to ensure the safety of the French. Places of worship, especially synagogues, have also been significantly strengthened.
The Vigipirate moves army soldiers through the streets of France in specialized vehicles and armed with war rifles. Churches, schools, religious high schools, institutes, ministries and, in particular, synagogues and Jewish institutions are protected.
Source: Clarin
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