The Director-General of the National Police has warned the government and other police services that France faces a heightened terror threat from radical Islamic groups.
Frédéric Veaux warned that memos had been sent through the Al-Qaeda affiliated Thabat news agency that directly threatened terrorist attacks against the French Republic.
“France is the target of a high and constant number of terrorist threats,” Veaux said. He added that those threats were “reiterated today in a statement of the Thabat agency, close to the Al-Qaeda organisation”, broadcaster BFMTV reports.
The National Police head went on to state that safeguards and extra security must be put in place in any large gatherings of people, “particularly on the occasion of the Christian religious celebrations of All Saints’ Day, but also with regards to Muslim associations and places of worship whose representatives have publicly condemned the terrorist attacks”.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has also issued his own directive to security services, asking for increased security measures after the publication of the new terror threats. Darmanin went on to say that authorities would be focused on monitoring Islamist messages on social media to prevent possible future attacks.
Darmanin has been a proponent, alongside President Emmanuel Macron, of shutting down Islamist-linked associations and groups after the brutal beheading of teacher Samuel Paty. A teen terrorist killed him for showing cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed to his class.
Before the attack, the father of one of the students at the school had formed a social media campaign against Paty, along with another well-known Islamist radical.
It was later revealed that the father, Brahim Chninam, was in direct contact with 18-year-old Chechen refugee Abdoullakh Anzorov before the terrorist attack and the pair had spoken on WhatsApp.