Hours after the attack on Dominique Bernard, the French government called for an “immediate” security increase at schools with the country placed on Urgence Attentat (Emergency Attack) mode, the highest of three levels in France’s national security alert system. All this comes against the backdrop of the Middle East conflict, The New European reports.
France hosted a Rugby World Cup match and the only time-consuming part was getting through security. People were searched three times, but given what has happened in France in the last three weeks, such measures were reassuring rather than disappointing.
The realisation that the Israel-Gaza situation could exacerbate divisions in France first came on October 13. A man who has a friend in the Interior Ministry warned his colleague of the increased terrorist risk, advising him to avoid the Métro.
Later that day, a philosophy teacher named Dominique Bernard was killed and two other people were seriously injured in an Islamist-motivated stabbing at a school in Arras. Hours after the attack, the French government called for the country to be placed on the highest level in France’s national security alert system: the Urgence Attentat.
The international sporting competition, attended by some 100,000 people who travelled to Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris where the Stade de France is located, was held in a tense atmosphere. The terrorist attacks in November 2015, which killed 130 people, began at that stadium.
A frightening surge in anti-Semitism, the banning of some pro-Palestinian protests and a wave of false bomb warnings across the country, including nearly 20 different airports, the Château de Versailles and the Louvre, have exacerbated an already tense situation.
However, all of these factors were not enough to alienate international fans, and even a match, which was not the most significant, attracted almost 78,000 spectators. One could speculate that the language barrier and rugby fever prevented many foreign visitors from noticing the intimidating situation in France.
One foreigner who stayed at the Marais expressed some concern after one of his evening strolls coincided with political violence. He witnessed a column of pro-Palestinian protesters, one of whom was knocked to the ground next to him.
The teargas is appropriately named; it really does make you cry.
French officials appeared to breathe a sigh of relief when they woke up the morning after South Africa’s victory. However, the country’s tensions need defusing, especially when the real test, the Olympic Games, is less than 10 months away.
