France’s Minister Gerald Darmannin has asked the regions to deploy law enforcement forces in front of all Catholic churches and Protestant temples for Easter this weekend, according to a note and a text message obtained today by the French Press Agency.
The “very heightened” level of terrorist threat, as well as the “continuation of (international) tensions”, notably with the war in Gaza and the attack on Moscow, “require the maintenance of a very high level of vigilance” for the Easter holiday, the ministry said in a note sent to the regions today.
As it generally does on the occasion of various religious holidays, the ministry asks regional authorities to “mobilise law enforcement forces” to “provide vigilance and security advice” to local religious authorities.
“In particular, it is necessary to insist” on “visual control of crowds entering with the aim of identifying suspicious persons” or to show a “special attention” to “vehicles parked near places of assembly or worship,” the French interior minister writes.
The minister adds, in a handwritten report, the instruction to organize a “physical presence” of law enforcement forces “systematically” in front of “all” churches and temples, especially during Good Friday, Good Saturday and Easter Sunday services.
The ministry re-sent this directive in a text message to the districts.
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Two attack plans failed in France after the start of the year. One involved a plan for “a violent action against a Catholic religious building” by a man “who had apparently embraced jihadist ideology”, the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (Pnat) pointed out.
Aged 62, this man was placed in temporary custody on March 8 for setting up a “criminal organisation with the aim of preparing crimes against people”, according to the Pnat.
