The Louvre Museum in Paris and the Palace of Versailles evacuated tourists and staff on Saturday in response to a bomb threat, as the French government deployed thousands of troops to beef up security a day after a French teacher was stabbed by a suspected Islamic terrorist.
A written bomb threat sent to Paris police prompted an alarm to evacuate visitors and staff from the Louvre and the underground shopping mall beneath its pyramids.
Police searched the Mona Lisa’s home, which sees between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors a day.
The royal palace of Versailles was also evacuated after the threat. One of the largest train stations in Paris, Gare de Lyon, was also evacuated after possible explosives were found. evening local time due to a bomb threat, according to reports.
The sprawling palace was closed for at least the rest of the day after the anonymous threat was made online.
The threat comes as tensions rise in France following the death of an Islamist terrorist at a school in Arras on Friday, when a Chechen immigrant on the country’s extremist watch list stabbed a teacher to death and wounded three other adults at a school.
Authorities believe the attack is linked to Israel’s war with Hamas.
France has openly supported Israel since the brutal October 7 terrorist attack that started the conflict.
French Police officers stand guard at the entrance to Gambetta high school in Arras, France, on Saturday, a day after a teacher was stabbed by a suspected Islamic terrorist. AFP via Getty Images
Prosecutors said the alleged attacker was a former student at the Gambetta-Carnot school in the northern city of Arras and repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” during the attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack as an act of “Islamic terrorism” and ordered up to 7,000 troops to be deployed across the region to increase security.
Arras has a large Jewish and Muslim population.
“This school was attacked by the barbarity of Islamic terrorism,” Macron said after a visit there, The Times of Israel reported.
Macron said the educator who died – identified as Dominique Bernard – “may have saved many lives” by trying to stop the attackers. Bernard was stabbed in the throat and chest.
French President Emmanuel Macron has deployed up to 7,000 troops across his country to beef up security. AFP via Getty Images
The injured included a school security agent who was stabbed multiple times and was fighting for his life, a teacher and a cleaner who were both in a less serious condition, according to anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard.
No students were injured.
The suspected attacker, Mohammed Moguchkov, aged in his 20s, has been arrested and several others are in custody.
His true motive remains unclear, and he has reportedly refused to speak to investigators.
However, French intelligence suggested a link between the war in the Middle East and the suspect’s decision to attack, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Authorities taped off a section outside the Gambetta-Carnot school in Arras, France, following Friday’s attack. AFP via Getty Images
He said authorities had detained 12 people near schools or places of worship in France since last week’s Hamas attack on Israel, some of them armed and preparing to act.
France also increased security at hundreds of Jewish sites across the country this week.
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Prosecutors are considering charges of terror-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.
Moguchkov has been under surveillance recently by intelligence services for radicalization.
Court documents seen by The Associated Press show he is from the Ingushetia region in Russia’s Caucasus Mountains, which neighbors Chechnya.
Some pupils, parents and staff returned to Gambetta-Carnot school as it reopened on Saturday morning.
Classes were cancelled, but schools reopened under police control for those who wanted to gather or seek support.
One mother said she came with her 17-year-old daughter as a sign of resistance to extremism, and to overcome the fear of returning to the site where children were locked up for hours after the stabbing.
Another mother came to seek guidance from a counselor on how to support her two sons, who witnessed an attack in their school yard.
“As adults, we have a hard time taking a step back, but to them, they’re kids,” said Emily Noge, arriving at the school with her son and her partner.
“They initially thought it was a rehearsal, so separating things, to say we’ve gone from a rehearsal to something dramatic, was very difficult for them.”
”It’s always the same moment that comes back: The schoolyard, the chair to protect themselves, the stabbing, the reason. ‘Why us? Why Arras? why teacher They are good teachers. They are there to protect us,’” he said.
For many in France, the attack echoed the killing of another teacher, Samuel Paty, almost exactly three years ago near his Paris-area school.
He was beheaded by a radical Chechen then killed by the police.
With Postal wire.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
