Following a recent knife attack near the Eiffel Tower, France has further increased security measures, with 90,000 police officers set to be deployed across the country on New Year’s Eve. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has cited a “very high terrorist threat” for the mobilization.
“I’ve requested a very strong mobilisation of police forces and the gendarmerie under the context of a very high terrorist threat, of course due to what’s happening in Israel and Palestine,” Darmanin explained.
For the first time, the authorities will also be using drones to monitor French citizens and other residents. Five-thousand soldiers and 35,000 firefighters will also be on duty.
Few Western countries have been hit harder than France by radical Islamic terrorism in recent years, with the multicultural country suffering around 130 fatalities during the Bataclan terrorist attack in 2015 and 86 fatalities during the Nice truck attack a year later, among other incidents.
Tensions have been high since the onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict, with a knifeman yelling “Allahu akbar!” stabbing a person to death in Paris four weeks ago and a Chechen migrant killing a teacher while shouting the same phrase before that.
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