Force was gradually employed in Louvre attack, defence minister says
BNC
2017-02-03
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France's ministers of defence, culture and interior affairs visited the shopping centre in the Louvre museum grounds on Friday (February 3), hours after a French soldier shot and wounded a man armed with machete.
The man tried to enter the Louvre museum in what the government said appeared to have been a terrorist attack.
Defence minister Yves Le Drian, Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux and Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay greeted soldiers from Operation Sentinelle and policemen who were involved in securing the area.
The soldier who shot the man was from Operation Sentinelle, the patrolling groups which have become a common sight in Paris since a state of emergency was declared in November 2015 following bomb and shooting attacks by Islamist militants. An anti-terrorism inquiry has been opened, the public prosecutor said.
The man shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and rushed at police and soldiers before being shot and seriously wounded near the museum's shopping mall, police said. A second person was also detained after acting suspiciously.
The soldier fired five bullets, an act that Le Drian said was necessary.
"There was an attack, which was managed using a gradual use of force, as the attacker, the corporal had first tried to contain the attacker but it was not possible. And as the attacker came back wounding him, it was indispensable to open fire," Le Drian said.
The interior minister said a drill had been in place at the Louvre museum precisely to prepare security forces for attacks such as this.
"What happened this morning… shows the perfect coordination of our reaction and the way each member of our forces think through it and implement it. This allows us to provide protection, to clear the area, to guarantee security and to have the capability to give back the museum to those who manage it, those who work here, to those who want to come and visit it," Le Roux said.
More than 230 people have died in France in the past two years at the hands of attackers allied to the militant Islamist group Islamic State.
The man tried to enter the Louvre museum in what the government said appeared to have been a terrorist attack.
Defence minister Yves Le Drian, Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux and Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay greeted soldiers from Operation Sentinelle and policemen who were involved in securing the area.
The soldier who shot the man was from Operation Sentinelle, the patrolling groups which have become a common sight in Paris since a state of emergency was declared in November 2015 following bomb and shooting attacks by Islamist militants. An anti-terrorism inquiry has been opened, the public prosecutor said.
The man shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) and rushed at police and soldiers before being shot and seriously wounded near the museum's shopping mall, police said. A second person was also detained after acting suspiciously.
The soldier fired five bullets, an act that Le Drian said was necessary.
"There was an attack, which was managed using a gradual use of force, as the attacker, the corporal had first tried to contain the attacker but it was not possible. And as the attacker came back wounding him, it was indispensable to open fire," Le Drian said.
The interior minister said a drill had been in place at the Louvre museum precisely to prepare security forces for attacks such as this.
"What happened this morning… shows the perfect coordination of our reaction and the way each member of our forces think through it and implement it. This allows us to provide protection, to clear the area, to guarantee security and to have the capability to give back the museum to those who manage it, those who work here, to those who want to come and visit it," Le Roux said.
More than 230 people have died in France in the past two years at the hands of attackers allied to the militant Islamist group Islamic State.
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