Terrorist threats to French high schools: ongoing investigation, strengthening of establishment security
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal chaired a meeting on Thursday March 21 on securing educational establishments, in the presence of Nicole Belloubet, Minister of National Education and the Minister of Justice, Éric Dupont-Moretti, a meeting planned for a long time , but which arrives in a tense context. The digital workspaces (ENT) of several dozen high schools and colleges in Île-de-France have in fact been hacked and terrorist threats addressed to students and parents.
According to a police source in Yvelines, a message announcing an explosive attack was sent to at least five high schools in this department west of Paris. Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images - Vincent LECOMTE
By: RFI with AFP
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Securing educational establishments, one of the government's main concerns. 150 establishments out of 500 are already equipped with security measures, such as anti-intrusion alarms. There is also talk of cleaning up the surroundings of schools, in order to restore security outside certain educational establishments that drug traffickers have transformed into deal points.
Regarding the
terrorist
threats received this week and targeting students and establishments in the Ile-de-France region, Prime Minister
Gabriel Attal
is firm: “
An investigation is open. Obviously, everything is done to find the author(s) of these threats in order to punish them most severely. They think they remain anonymous, but we track them. They think they are safe, but we sanction them. We will obviously be very vigilant, with the Minister of Justice, to ensure that the greatest firmness is applied. It is absolutely unacceptable, inadmissible that we seek to achieve the necessary serenity in our schools for students, families and national education staff.
»
Regional authorities indicated that around “
fifty
” establishments were concerned at this stage. The threats of attack accompanied by a beheading video sent to students passed through the digital work space (ENT) which serves as a link between parents, students and teachers. Psychological support has been put in place for adolescents or adults who viewed the images.
Open investigation
The president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse denounces “
extremely serious facts, which call for exemplary sanctions for the perpetrators of these offenses
”. The Ile-de-France region announced that it had “filed a complaint” with the Paris cyber prosecutor following the creation of a fraudulent site aimed at hacking the regional ENT.
Furthermore, at the Jean-Moulin high school in Torcy, in the department of Seine-et-Marne, a message circulated on social networks indicating that explosives were hidden throughout the establishment “
in the name of Allah
” according to a police source.
Around ten people are currently being prosecuted
for
this type of threat against educational establishments. They face up to 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros. A wave of false alarms affected several hundred educational establishments in the fall, 800 according to government figures in mid-November. They multiplied after
the jihadist attack which cost the life of a teacher, Dominique Bernard
, in Arras, in the north of the country, on October 13.
Read alsoFrance: dozens of high schools targeted by threats of attack during a computer hack
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