France is deploying thousands of troops to guard sensitive locations across the country and the Lou-vre Museum and the Palace of Versailles were evacuated in separate security alerts on Saturday, a day after an attacker stabbed a teacher to death in what the president called an act of terrorism.
Friday’s attack took place in the northeastern town of Arras, home to large Jewish and Muslim populations. A man in his twenties killed French teacher Dominique Bernard and severely wounded three others at the school he used to attend.
On Saturday, amid fears the conflict between Israel and Hamas could lead to violence in foreign capitals, France announced it would deploy up to 7,000 soldiers under the highest warning level.
Police arrested the suspected perpetrator of Friday’s attack, Mohammed Moguchkov. He was among 11 people being held in custody on Saturday, a police source told AFP, including his 17-year-old brother and several other family members.
In Paris, the famous Louvre museum evacuated visitors and closed following a “security” threat.
Two major attractions Louvre, Versailles evacuated in separate alerts
A spokeswoman for the Louvre, the largest museum in the world, said it had “received a written message stating that there was a risk to the museum and its visitors”.
The Palace of Versailles, also a major tourist attraction just outside the capital, was evacuated due to a bomb threat made anonymously online, police sources said.
The deployment of the soldiers from Operation Sentinelle will be completed by Monday evening, according to the Elysee presidential palace.
Sentinelle is a French military operation involving the deployment of soldiers, police and gendarmes set up in the aftermath of January 2015 attacks to protect parts of the country deemed sensitive from terrorism.
“This school was struck by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism,” President Emmanuel Macron said after visiting the school, adding that the victim had “probably saved many lives” with his courage in blocking the attacker.—AFP
