Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asked prefects to deploy police in front of all Catholic churches and Protestant temples for Easter this weekend, according to a note and an SMS consulted Thursday by AFP . The “very high” level of the terrorist threat as well as the “persistence of international tensions”, notably with the war in Gaza and the attack in Moscow “require the maintenance of extreme vigilance” for the Easter holidays, writes the minister in a note sent Thursday to the prefects.
“Provide vigilance and security advice” to local religious authorities
As he generally does on the occasion of various religious holidays, the minister asks them to “mobilize the police” to “provide vigilance and security advice” to local religious authorities. “In particular, it will be necessary to insist” on the “visual control of incoming flows for the purposes of detecting suspicious individuals” or to pay “particular attention” to “vehicles parked near places of assembly or worship”, writes Gérald Darmanin.
The minister adds, in a handwritten note, the instruction to organize a “physical presence” of the police, “systematically”, in front of “all” churches and temples, in particular during services on Friday and this weekend. The minister doubled this instruction with an SMS to the prefects.
Two attack plans foiled since the start of the year
Two planned attacks have been foiled in France since the start of the year. One concerned a planned “violent action against a Catholic religious building” by a man “obviously committed to jihadist ideology”, indicated the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (Pnat).
Aged 62, this man was indicted and placed in pre-trial detention on March 8 for “criminal association with the aim of preparing crimes against people”, according to the Pnat. Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Christ for Christians, is celebrated on Sunday by Catholics and Protestants, and on May 5 by the Orthodox.