Crime & Justice

French government raises nationwide anti-terrorism alert to highest level

Paris, Oct 13 (EFE).- The French government on Friday night raised the anti-terrorism alert level to “attack emergency” after the killing of a teacher in an attack “linked to the Middle East.”

“In the current context and after the terrorist attack in Arras, I have decided to raise the Vigipirate level to the highest level, that of ‘attack emergency,'” announced French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.

Vigipirate, which stands for surveillance and protection of installations against the risk of terrorist attacks, is France’s national security alert system.

The prime minister’s announcement came after a meeting of the security council at the Elysee Palace, attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Borne and a number of members of the government.

The meeting was convened after Friday’s terrorist attack in the city of Arras (northern France), where a 20-year-old Russian-Chechen man entered a secondary school and killed a teacher with a knife, and caused very serious injuries to a school worker and severe injuries to another teacher.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on TF1 that “according to our information, there is undoubtedly a link between what happened and the Middle East,” referring to the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The perpetrator of the Arras attack was arrested by police using a stun gun, and seven others were subsequently arrested, including the attacker’s younger brother.

The assailant is a member of a Russian-Chechen family that arrived in France in 2008 and was the subject of an expulsion attempt in 2014, although only the father was finally deported several years later.

The eldest son was convicted twice this year for various crimes related to Islamist terrorism, and the perpetrator of today’s attack was on file as a potentially dangerous suspect. EFE

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