‘Drug-dealing scum' behind string of French prison attacks, claims minister
Drug-traffickers were most likely behind an unprecedented wave of attacks against French prisons though foreign influence and the far-left remain possible instigators, French interior minister Bruno Retailleau said on Thursday.
"It's most likely drug-dealing scum. It is one of the most credible scenarios," Retailleau told RTL radio.
At least nine prison facilities and affiliated institutions have been targeted with nightly arson and other attacks this week and a car was set alight at the home of a prison guard. There was no sign of further violence overnight into Thursday.
President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that those behind an unprecedented wave of attacks would be tracked down and punished after violence flared for a third night.
A car was set on fire in front of the home of a prison guard who works in Aix-Luynes, in southern France, the door of a building in the Seine-et-Marne region was damaged and three cars were set ablaze at Tarascon prison also in southern France, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) said, adding that it was opening an investigation.
That adds to at least nine prison facilities and other affiliated institutions - including a school for prison staff - targeted the previous two nights.
Retailleau confirmed an arrest, but said it was too early to tell if it was linked to the attacks, which the government has said appear to be a response to its efforts to clamp down a record-breaking surge of South American cocaine flooding Europe.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin plans to open high-security prisons to house France's top 100 drug kingpins and limit inmates' family contact.
A Telegram group called French Prisoner Rights (DDPF), created the day before the attacks began and arguing that prisoner rights are under threat, is under investigation.
The influx of South American cocaine has transformed local drug markets, sparking a wave of violence.
Despite record cocaine seizures in France, gangs are reaping windfalls as they expand from traditional power bases in cities such as Marseille into smaller towns unused to drug violence.
"Some are trying to intimidate our prison workers and are attacking (prison s) with unacceptable violence. They will be found, sentenced and punished," Macron said on X.
The government has pointed the finger at drug traffickers, but also said that was one among several options being probed.
"There are clearly people who try to destabilise the state by intimidating it," Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNews TV and Europe 1 radio.
"We are taking very firm measures that are leading drug traffickers to react."
Graffiti letters "DDPF" - apparently an acronym for "French prisoners' rights" -were tagged on some of the attack sites, which some police sources said could be the work of unknown left-wing militant groups.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Les Misérables audience boo Donald Trump as President angers theatregoers
Donald Trump attended the Kennedy Center in Washington DC for the first time since he announced huge plans to change the venue's programming - including a ban on drag acts Grainy footage captures theatregoers boo and heckle Donald Trump as the President takes his seat for the opening night of Les Misérables. Some cast members were expected to pull out of Wednesday night's gig at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC because they were aware the President was coming. He angered performers and patrons at the venue when he announced huge changes to its programming earlier this year - having controvesially been elected chairman. These plans included a cut on what he called "woke" productions, such as drag acts. And the fury could be felt in the auditorium as Mr Trump and wife Melania took their seats ahead of Les Mis. It was his first time at the venue, the national cultural centre of the US, since becoming President again - and since the massive overhaul of its output. There were also empty seats in the balconies and even in the orchestra section, with talk ahead of the gig that patrons intended to boycott the performance. It is understood understudies filled in for main performers, who also had decided to boycott the night due to Mr Trump's presence. The Mirror is working to confirm if this was the case - and how many cast members dropped out. Sales of subscription packages are said to have declined since Mr Trump's takeover, and several touring productions, including Hamilton, have cancelled planned runs at the centre. Actor Issa Rae and musician Rhiannon Giddens scrapped scheduled appearances, and Kennedy Center consultants, including musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming, resigned. Yet, Mr Trump remained proud as, clad in a tuxedo, he sat for the performance on Wednesday. The politician has a particular affection for Les Misérables, the sprawling musical set in 19th-century France, and has occasionally played its songs at his events. One of them, Do You Hear the People Sing?, is a revolutionary rallying cry inspired by the 1832 rebellion against the French king. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, were also there. Ric Grenell, the Trump-appointed interim leader of the Kennedy Center, stood nearby as the President spoke to reporters. Attorney General Pam Bondi chatted with other guests. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr took selfies with attendees. But the MAGA takeover was met with heckles in the auditorium itself. People on X also shared the irony Mr Trump chose to see a performance about a mass uprising against a tyrannical king. Images on X show audience members dressed in drag, a nid to Mr Trump's criticism the venue put on drag shows before his takeover. However, some reports suggest a minority in the audience cheered the President's arrival. When reporters told Mr Trump it was expected some cast members had pulled out due to his presence, the nonchalant world leader said: "I couldn't care less."
Evening Standard
6 hours ago
- Evening Standard
Napoleonic prisoner of war camp buried under field bought from farmer
Located near Peterborough, it contains the remains of around 1,770 French, Dutch and German soldiers captured in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars fought between the French and other European nations.
Spectator
6 hours ago
- Spectator
The Sizewell delusion
The Chancellor's promise of £14 billion for the Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk is hardly news. The project has been talked about for 15 years while the existing UK nuclear estate has gradually been shut down and the only other new station, Hinkley Point in Somerset, has stumbled to a decade-long delay and £28 billion of budget overruns. Quite some optimism – verging on Milibandian delusion – is required to embrace the idea that Sizewell will come quicker and cheaper because it will replicate Hinkley Point while avoiding its mistakes. And since Chinese money has been ruled out, it's still a mystery as to who else will pay for the project beside HMG and the French utility company EDF. Unarguably, we need a constant baseload of nuclear power to stop the lights going out in mid-century: commitment to Sizewell can't be all wrong, despite local objections. But what's intriguing about this week's news is that it coincides with the naming of Rolls-Royce as 'preferred bidder' to deliver the UK's first small modular reactors, in theory much easier to bring to fruition. If SMRs can really deliver nuclear power one town at a time by the mid-2030s, as planned, Hinkley Point and unfinished Sizewell will begin to look like dinosaurs. The simple truth is that both should have been done and dusted a generation ago. But nuclear decision-ducking has been a shame on successive governments for as long as most of us can remember. Defensive stocks My recent suggestion of a 'Rearmament Isa' that would incentivise savers to buy shares in UK manufacturers of military kit brought a positive response from one former defence minister but not from the current Chancellor who, let's face it, may not be among my most devoted readers. Nevertheless, I'm hoping the idea might feature in an Isa overhaul this autumn, because last week's £68 billion defence review wish-list of everything from ammo factories to autonomous weaponry was a reminder of how vital it is to sustain an innovative, well-capitalised, British-owned defence industry, rather than one that is picked off piece by piece by US and other foreign predators. And it's fair to say that the review's call for 'warfighting readiness' makes the sector a strong bet for investors anyway, with or without Isa tax benefits. Blue-chip defence stocks have already soared since the beginning of the year – BAE Systems up 68 per cent, Rolls-Royce 55 per cent – but may pause as the market discovers how much of the wish list the government actually commits to buying and to what extent UK firms are impeded (as President Emmanuel Macron of France has signalled) from supplying EU rearmament demand. In the meantime, smart stock-pickers will hunt for defence-related businesses that have yet to catch the upswing. Naturally on this theme I consult this column's veteran investor Robin Andrews, who suggests taking a look at 'engineering and electronics companies that are vital in the supply chain and whose customers are major defence companies and in some cases governments directly'. Here's his promising half-dozen: Melrose Industries in aerospace; Hunting in precision engineering; Filtronic, already a hot stock in telecom systems; and in various aspects of IT, Concurrent Technologies, EnSilica and the curiously named Raspberry Pi. As ever, we urge you to do your own research. City stampede Here we go again: three more tech companies abandoning London. Spectris, a listed precision instrument maker that descends from the Fairey seaplane company and might have featured in our roll call of defence-adjacent stocks above, is selling itself to the US private equity giant Advent for £3.7 billion. Alphawave, an Anglo-Canadian designer of 'high-speed connectivity solutions' that listed in London in 2021, has fallen to US microchip maker Qualcomm for £1.8 billion. Both deals are at huge premiums over the companies' last quoted share prices, reflecting the pattern of chronic undervaluation that has driven the decline of the London Stock Exchange and provoked a stampede of takeovers. Third to go this week is Wise, a money-transfer fintech founded in London by Estonian emigrés and now worth £11 billion, but moving its primary listing to New York. Time and again we're told City authorities, Treasury ministers and the Exchange itself are urgently pursuing reforms to make London's capital markets slicker and sexier; but so far, as the exodus accelerates, to no effect whatever. Top shopkeeper Last week, to some readers' irritation, I applauded a €100 million bonus for Michael O'Leary in his 31st year as the presiding genius of Ryanair. So if I'm in favour of high pay for high performance, logic might dictate that I should also favour the £7 million award to Stuart Machin for his third year's work as chief executive of Marks & Spencer. But I'm not so sure. The high street chain has certainly revived under Machin's leadership: profits are up, stores look fresher, the food offer outpaces rivals and the shares have risen 150 per cent since he took the helm in May 2022. And he's clearly not to blame for the cyber-attack that crippled M&S's website and cost the business £300 million. But nor is he a creator of the M&S brand: he's a hired hand (having previously worked for Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda and in Australia) whose efforts have been closely mentored by his powerful chairman, Archie Norman. In that case, is it really fair to pay him 140 times the average store manager's salary? Then again, I hear you mutter, what's fairness got to do with it if £7 million is the going rate for global boardroom talent? Maybe, but it's a big number for running a shop and it puts Machin in a merciless media spotlight. Having said which, I'll pop out to buy my M&S picnic lunch.
