Overnight Raids Target French Prisons

(MENAFN) Several French prisons came under attack overnight, with vehicles set on fire outside multiple facilities and at least one jail struck by automatic gunfire, in what officials described as "intimidation attempts."

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed that the incidents were intimidation attempts and suggested a link to the government's intensified efforts against drug trafficking.

According to reports, seven prisons were targeted: Toulon, Aix-En-Provence, Marseille, Valence, and Nîmes in southern France, as well as Villepinte and Nanterre near Paris.

France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the attacks.

In a post on X, Darmanin said he was traveling to Toulon to support officers at the prison there, which was fired upon. While stopping short of directly naming those responsible, he stated that the government was "facing up to the problem of drug trafficking" and implementing measures that would "profoundly disrupt" criminal networks.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau echoed the government's tough stance, writing on X: "Those who attack prisons and officers deserve to be locked up in those prisons and monitored by those officers."

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