Saturday, 16 July 2016

Attack on Nice: France calls on 'patriotic citizens' to join the reserves


The scene in Nice on July 16 2016Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

The French interior minister has called on "all patriotic citizens" to become reservists to boost security in the wake of the attack in Nice, in which 84 people were killed.
Bernard Cazeneuve reiterated that France would call up 12,000 reservists.
Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a lorry into crowds marking Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais on Thursday, before he was shot dead by police.
So-called Islamic State claimed one of its followers carried out the attack.
A news agency linked to the group, Amaq Agency, said: "He did the attack in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition that is fighting the Islamic State."
Five people believed to be linked to Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, including his estranged wife, are in police custody, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Media captionMarina and her mother Severine: "We can't sleep. We cry. We're scared"

France, which on Saturday began three days of mourning, already has 120,000 police and military deployed around the country. Its 12,000 reservists are made up of 9,000 military police officers and a further 3,000 regular police officers.
"I want to call on all French patriots who wish to do so, to join this operational reserve," Mr Cazeneuve said.
Some 30,000 people were on the Promenade des Anglais at the time of the attack on Thursday night.
Of the 84 who died, 10 were children. A total of 303 people had been taken into hospital following the attacks, the French health department confirmed on Saturday. Of those, 121 remain in hospital, 30 of whom are children, and 26 people are still in intensive care - including five children.
Residents of Nice and foreign tourists were killed, among them four French citizens, three Algerians, a teacher and two schoolchildren from Germany, three Tunisians, two Swiss, two Americans, a Ukrainian, an Armenian and a Russian.


Previously, Mr Cazeneuve said Lahouaiej-Bouhlel seemed to have been "radicalised very quickly", urging that this was a "new type of attack...[and] showed the extreme difficulty of the fight against terrorism".
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, drove the lorry 2km (1.2 miles) along the promenade, at times zig-zagging to target people, prosecutors said.
French President Francois Hollande met with his defence and security chiefs and cabinet ministers on Saturday and called for national unity in France.
He said: "We are in a time when, and we have seen it, there is a temptation to divide the country.
"Faced with these temptations, faced with this risk, we must recall the unity and cohesion of this country."

The Copeland family. From left to right, Sean, Meagan, Brodie, Austin and Kim Davis, a family friendImage copyrightAP
Image captionAmong the victims of the attack were Sean Copeland (left) and his 11-year-old son Brodie (front) from the US

Mr Hollande, who said the attack was a terrorist act, has already moved to extend a state of emergency by three months.
A state of emergency has been in place across France since the Paris attackscarried out by militants from the so-called Islamic State group. The 13 November attacks left 130 people dead.
Mr Hollande had proposed lifting the state of emergency on 26 July, but reversed his decision after the Nice attack.
Psychiatrist Dr Sylvie Serret treated many people, including children, who witnessed the traumatic attack in Nice, and she feared long-term post-traumatic stress or anxiety would set in, in some cases.

Media captionAttack on Nice: 'Terrible scenes and terrible images in their heads'

Meanwhile, France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen has called for national service to be brought back, and a national guard to be created to protect France in the wake of Nice attacks.
Speaking in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, she said the budget for the armed forces should be increased.
She also called on Mr Cazeneuve to resign and said that France had the means to defend itself, but that its leaders were too weak to do it.
There was a visible security presence in Nice on Saturday and soldiers were patrolling the front of the main train station Gare De Nice Ville.
Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was known to the police as a petty criminal, but was "totally unknown to intelligence services... and was never flagged for signs of radicalisation," prosecutor Francois Molins said.
A neighbour of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, who used to live in a high-rise block of flats on Boulevard Henri Sappia with his family, said he did not believe the 31-year-old was involved with IS.
Samiq, who did not want to give his surname, told the Press Association news agency: "I never saw him going to the Mosque. He was not a Muslim. During Ramadan I saw him smoking."

Residence permit of Lahouaiej-BouhlelImage copyrightAFP
Image captionA reproduction of the residence permit of Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, from French police sources
Police in NiceImage copyrightAP
Image captionPolice were in force on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice
Hooded French police officers were pictured leaving the Nice address of the attacker Lahouaiej-Bouhlel on SaturdayImage copyrightAP
Image captionHooded French police officers were pictured on Saturday leaving the address in Nice where Lahouaiej-Bouhlel lived
Media captionNice attack: Footage of final gun battle

Speaking in Nice, the president of the Regional Council for the Muslim Faith, Boubakar Bekri, said mosques in the area had responded to the attack.
"Yesterday in all mosques in the region of Alpes-Maritimes, there has been a common prayer calling for vigilance and patience, because these very bad events affect us; and there has been a call for blood donation," he said.

People placing candles among the tributes in NiceImage copyrightPA
Image captionPeople continue to place flowers and candles in Nice following the attack
A tribute left by mourners in Nice, France, of a teddy bear holding a sign of solidarity
Image captionSome of the tributes made reference to other violent attacks which have taken place around the world
Timeline of attacks

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