A double threat weighs on the celebrations of the music festival scheduled for Saturday, June 21 everywhere in France, according to the government. Significant security measures have been taken.
With more than 30 ° C planned everywhere in France for the day of Saturday June 21, the Music Festival promises to be scorching. But the hot weather will not be the only threats to weigh on the celebrations of early summer. The police will be on the alert this Saturday and adorned to respond to the two major security threats identified, said Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau at the microphone of Cnews And Europe 1 Wednesday, June 18. The tenant of Place Beauvau prepared for all the possibilities and even for the worst scenario, that of a terrorist attack in connection with the current geopolitical context.
The concerns of the Minister of the Interior relate to two things, starting with “the threat which can be awakened by the events between Israel and Iran, linked to the endogenous Islamist movement”, that is to say “by young people who radicalize with events on social networks”. “This is a threat that is not overlooked” and which is the subject of close monitoring of the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI) assured the politician in an interview.
The second threat concerns the Iranian diaspora more and the 62,000 Iranians residing in France. This community, made up of people who have fled the mullahs regime, “does not constitute a threat in itself”, but could be the subject of malicious actions warns Bruno Retailleau. Previous projects of attacks commanded by the Iranian regime have already been thwarted on French soil recalled the Minister of the Interior by referring to “an attack in 2018 thwarted against Iranian opponents”. The fear is that new attacks are carried out during the gatherings of the Fête de la Musique.
History has shown that public events organized during national festivals could be the scene of terrorist attacks like the attacks of July 14, 2016 in Nice, on the Promenade des Anglais. Maximum safety and precautionary measures have been taken by the authorities to prevent an event in this way from being occurring. “We are very vigilant, I did a meeting on Friday evening with all our forces so that we all put ourselves at the threat, especially for the coming weekend, since we have the music festival and a certain number of concerts, in Paris and everywhere in France,” said Bruno Retailleau Cnews And Europe 1. The objective is to “have the best possible security for the French”.
The Minister of the Interior has not detailed the security system planned for the music festival, nor the number of members of the police deployed throughout the territory for the day and the evening of Saturday June 21. “We are mobilized”, he was content to add adding that several people are already placed under surveillance, in particular “a few dozen individuals, in reality, who do not even know that their orders come from the Iranian regime”.