France faces a “very high” terror risk ahead of the feast of the Assumption on August 15th and authorities should pay particular attention to “services, gatherings, processions and pilgrimages,” the country’s outgoing interior minister has said.
In a message sent via social media app Telegram to all regional prefects, Gérald Darmanin warned of “the very high level of the terrorist threat that continues to weigh on our country.” This has only intensified thanks to “France’s international exposure,” since it will shortly host the Paralympic Games “against a backdrop of high international tension, particularly in the Middle East.”
Darmanin, who remains in position pending the formation of a new government, added that “extreme vigilance must be maintained, particularly with regard to demonstrations and places of a religious nature.”
Celebrated on 15th August, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a public holiday in France. It is also one of the most significant feasts in the calendar of the Catholic Church.
Celebrations take place across the country, including a national pilgrimage to Lourdes, where several thousand people gather every 15th August.
Darmanin said that police should be in constant contact with those responsible for religious sites during the feast.
“These contacts (…) should enable the organisers to be given appropriate advice on vigilance and preventive security,” including “visual checks of incoming traffic” to detect suspicious individuals—and suspicious vehicles parked in front of churches.
He also suggested that prefects could deploy forces under Operation Sentinelle. This is the ongoing military operation to protect “sensitive” locations following the January 2015 Île-de-France terror attacks.
At sites of worship on Thursday, “increased vigilance” will have to be adopted “through a visible static presence at the times of arrival and departure of worshippers,” Darmanin said.