After the Oslo attack, reinforced security in France around LGBT gatherings

Europe 1 with AFP 2:22 p.m., June 25, 2022

Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects on Saturday to reinforce security around LGBT gatherings during the "pride marches" which are held everywhere in France, the day after the fatal shooting in Oslo near a gay club.

"The dramatic events that took place on Friday in Oslo, whose motives are not yet fully established at this time, call for increased general vigilance", writes the Minister of the Interior in a telegram consulted by Europe 1. Gérald Darmanin asks "without delay" to the prefects and the directors general of the police and the gendarmerie to "mobilize all the sensors" to "detect possible threats likely to weigh" on the various LGBT processions.

Nearly 30,000 people expected in Paris

In Paris, where the authorities have planned a mobilization of 25,000 to 35,000 people, "the anti-terrorist dimension of the system, always taken into account in a context of perennial threat, has been reinforced" and "the positioning of the police has been tightened around the demonstration," the police headquarters told AFP. 

In addition, "the perimeter established around the Marais district for the evening festivities also includes this component with, for example, the installation of reinforced concrete slides at the entry points, in support of the police", she added.

Two dead and 21 injured

Friday evening, a shooting killed two people and injured 21, including ten seriously, near a gay bar in the heart of downtown Oslo, where the Pride march scheduled for Saturday was canceled.

The alleged perpetrator of the attack is a 42-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin known to the services responsible for anti-terrorism.