The Louvre Museum in Paris and the Palace of Versailles evacuated tourists and staff on Saturday in response to bomb threats, as the French government deployed thousands of soldiers to increase security a day after a French professor was stabbed by an alleged Islamist terrorist.
Written bomb threats sent to Paris police prompted alarm bells to evacuate visitors and staff from the Louvre and the underground shopping center beneath its pyramid.
Police searched the Mona Lisa house, which receives between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors a day.
The Royal Palace of Versailles was also evacuated after threats. One of Paris’ largest train stations, Gare de Lyon, was also emptied after a possible explosive was found. local time due to a bomb threat, according to reports.
The grand palace was closed for at least the rest of the day after the anonymous threat hit the Internet.
The threats came as tensions rose in France following the fatal stabbing of an Islamist at a school in Arras on Friday, when a Chechen immigrant on the country’s extremist watch list stabbed a teacher to death and seriously injured three other adults. at a school.
Authorities believe the attack is related to Israel’s war against Hamas.
France has publicly supported Israel since the brutal October 7 terrorist attack that started the fighting.
French police officers stand guard at the entrance to Gambetta secondary school in Arras, France, on Saturday, a day after a teacher was stabbed by a suspected Islamist terrorist. AFP via Getty Images
Prosecutors said the alleged attacker was a former student at the Gambetta-Carnot school in the northern city of Arras and repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar” or “God is great” during the attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the attack as an act of “Islamist terror” and ordered the deployment of up to 7,000 soldiers across the county to reinforce security.
Arras has large Jewish and Muslim populations.
“This school was hit by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism,” Macron said after a visit there, The Times of Israel reported.
Macron said the dead educator, identified as Dominique Bernard, “probably saved many lives” by trying to block the attacker. Bernard was stabbed in the throat and chest.
French President Emmanuel Macron has deployed up to 7,000 soldiers across his country to bolster security. AFP via Getty Images
Among the injured were a school security agent who was stabbed several times and is fighting for his life, a teacher and a cleaner, both in less serious condition, according to anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-François Ricard.
No students were injured.
The alleged attacker, Mohammed Moguchkov, aged in his 20s, was arrested and several other people are in custody.
His exact motive remains unclear and he is reportedly refusing to speak to investigators.
However, French intelligence suggested a link between the war in the Middle East and the suspect’s decision to attack, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Authorities cordoned off a section outside the Gambetta-Carnot school in Arras, France, following Friday’s attack. AFP via Getty Images
He said authorities have detained 12 people near schools or places of worship in France since Hamas’ attack on Israel last week, some of whom were armed and preparing to take action.
France also increased security at hundreds of Jewish sites across the country this week.
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Prosecutors are considering charges of terrorism-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.
Moguchkov had recently been under surveillance by the intelligence services for radicalization.
Court documents seen by The Associated Press show he is from the Ingushetia region in Russia’s Caucasus Mountains, neighboring Chechnya.
Some schoolchildren, parents and staff returned to Gambetta-Carnot school when it reopened Saturday morning.
Classes were cancelled, but the school reopened under police surveillance for those who wanted to gather or seek support.
One mother said she came with her 17-year-old daughter in a show of defiance against extremism and to overcome the fear of returning to a place where children were locked up for hours after the stabbing.
Another mother came to seek guidance from counselors on how to support her two children, who witnessed the attack in their schoolyard.
“As adults, it’s hard for us to take a step back, but to them, they’re kids,” said Emily Noge, arriving at school with her children and her partner.
“At first they thought it was an exercise, so keeping things separate, saying we’ve gone from an exercise to something dramatic, is very difficult for them.”
”The same moments always come back: the school yard, the chairs to protect themselves, the stabbings, the whys. ‘Why we? Why Arras? Why teachers? They were good teachers. They were there to protect us,’” he said.
For many in France, the attack echoed the murder of another teacher, Samuel Paty, almost exactly three years ago near his school in the Paris area.
He was beheaded by a radicalized Chechen who was later murdered by the police.
With mail cables.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn