This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/world/europe/french-authorities-appeal-for-calm-after-string-of-attacks.html

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
French Authorities Appeal for Calm After String of Attacks France Orders Troop Reinforcements After Attacks
(about 1 hour later)
PARIS — After a string of attacks across France that have reinforced concerns about Islamic militancy, Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday acknowledged that the French were “worried by these shocking images” but urged them “to continue to live normally.” PARIS — After a string of attacks across France that have heightened concerns about Islamic militancy, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Tuesday that hundreds of additional military personnel would be ordered onto the streets to reinforce a routine deployment of security forces.
French security officials say they have not established any direct links between the attacks in the central town of Joué-lès-Tours on Saturday, in Dijon on Sunday, and in Nantes on Monday. “There is a terrorist threat in France,” Mr. Valls told a news conference in Paris. “It is undoubtedly the main challenge of our time.”
In Dijon and Nantes, more than 20 people were wounded after two men drove a car and a van into crowds of people, with one of the drivers shouting an Islamic rallying call. The authorities depicted both drivers as mentally unstable. But, seeking to reassure a jittery nation unsettled by fears of militancy linked to the jihadist campaign in Syria and Iraq, Mr. Valls said that between 200 and 300 more military personnel would be deployed, in addition to 780 already on the streets as part of routine year-end precautions.
In Joué-lès-Tours, a 20-year-old man entered a police station while wielding a knife and attacked three officers before another shot and killed him. “Vigilance, calm, determination. These are the key points,” Mr. Valls said, speaking after successive attacks in the central town of Joué-lès-Tours on Saturday, in Dijon on Sunday, and in Nantes on Monday.
The episodes raised fears that militants acting alone may have decided to stage attacks on French citizens in response to their government’s support for the American-led air campaign against jihadists in Syria and Iraq. The attacks followed bloody episodes ascribed to so-called lone wolf assailants in London last year and in Sydney, Australia, last week. In Dijon and Nantes, more than 20 people were wounded when men drove vehicles into crowds of people, with one of the drivers shouting an Islamic rallying call. The authorities depicted both drivers as mentally unstable.
Security concerns in France and elsewhere have been heightened by the radicalization of thousands of Europeans who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State, which seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq. In Joué-lès-Tours, a 20-year-old man with a concealed knife entered a police station and attacked three officers before another shot and killed him.
In statements on Monday, Mr. Valls declared: “Never have we faced such danger in matters of terrorism. We have over 1,000 individuals who are involved in jihad and Syria and Iraq.” He added: “The string of tragedies that we have been faced with is worrying for all of us.” “These three events do not appear to have any link between each other in appearance,” President François Hollande said on Tuesday during a visit to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a group of French islands south of Newfoundland. But, Mr. Hollande said, the timing of the attacks on successive days “justified a very important vigilance.”
But, speaking on Europe 1 radio on Tuesday, he said: “The best answer is to continue to live normally, with the necessary vigilance of course.” The violence raised fears that militants acting alone may have decided to stage attacks on French citizens in response to their government’s support for the American-led air campaign against jihadists in Syria and Iraq. The attacks followed bloody episodes ascribed to so-called lone wolf assailants in London last year and in Sydney, Australia, last week.
French officials have drawn clear distinctions between the three attacks. Security concerns in France and elsewhere have been heightened by the radicalization of thousands of Europeans who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State, which seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.
The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, told reporters in Nantes on Monday that the attack in that city, where a man drove a white van into a crowd of pedestrians at a Christmas market, was “in all likelihood the act of an unstable person.” The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, told reporters in Nantes on Monday that the attack in that city, where a man drove a white van into a crowd of pedestrians at a Christmas market, was “in all likelihood the act of an unstable person.” On Tuesday, Mr. Hollande said that one of the 10 people injured in Nantes had died.
In Dijon, the city’s prosecutor, Marie-Christine Tarrare, said at a news conference on Monday that the driver who rammed into pedestrians the previous day was a 40-year-old French citizen of Algerian and Moroccan descent who had “serious and long-established psychiatric issues” and who had been treated for such problems on 157 occasions. In Dijon, the city prosecutor, Marie-Christine Tarrare, said at a news conference on Monday that the driver who rammed into pedestrians the previous day, injuring 13 people, was a 40-year-old French citizen of Algerian and Moroccan descent who had “serious and long-established psychiatric issues” and who had been treated for such problems on 157 occasions.
“His motivations are quite vague and hardly coherent,” Ms. Tarrare said of the driver, who has been arrested.“His motivations are quite vague and hardly coherent,” Ms. Tarrare said of the driver, who has been arrested.
In Joué-lès-Tours, a suburb of Tours, in central France, prosecutors identified the knife-wielding assailant as Bertrand Nzohabonayo. He was an immigrant from Burundi and the elder brother of Brice Nzohabonayo, 19, who was being monitored by the French security services because of his radical Islamist views. The driver apparently became “very agitated” at home after watching a television program about the plight of children in Chechnya. Ms. Tarrare said he told the police that the program made him want to attack the French state by running over policemen or military officers, but that, after driving to a police station, he resolved to drive into pedestrians instead.
In Joué-lès-Tours, a suburb of Tours, in central France, prosecutors identified the knife-wielding assailant as Bertrand Nzohabonayo. He is an immigrant from Burundi and the elder brother of Brice Nzohabonayo, 19, who was being monitored by the French security services because of his radical Islamist views.
“Brice was being monitored since August 2013, when their mother reported that she was worried about her son’s radicalization and the influence he might be having on Bertrand,” the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said at a news conference on Monday.“Brice was being monitored since August 2013, when their mother reported that she was worried about her son’s radicalization and the influence he might be having on Bertrand,” the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said at a news conference on Monday.
Bertrand Nzohabonayo had taken the name Bilal on a Facebook page and had posted an image of the black flag of the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL, the prosecutor said. Their sister, who was detained Saturday and then released by the French police, said the family was originally Catholic. She said that Bertrand converted to Islam when he was 16 or 17 and quickly became radicalized. Bertrand Nzohabonayo had taken the name Bilal on a Facebook page and had posted an image of the black flag of the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL, the prosecutor said.
Brice Nzohabonayo was arrested in Burundi on Saturday, news reports said. Their sister, who was detained Saturday and then released by the French police, said the family was originally Catholic. She said that Bertrand converted to Islam when he was 16 or 17 and quickly became radicalized.
The National Front party, which has demanded sharp curbs on immigration, seized on the three attacks to further castigate the authorities, accusing them of trying to minimize the threat posed by Islamic extremists in France. Brice Nzohabonayo was arrested in Burundi on Saturday, news reports said, although the circumstances surrounding his detention were unclear.
“The Islamic State, in its recurring Internet appeals, is calling to fight these ‘dirty French,’ as they put it, most notably by stabbing them, which was done in Joué-lès-Tours, and by running them over with cars, which, curiously, was done in Dijon and Nantes,” Florian Philippot, a vice president of the National Front, told RTL radio on Tuesday. The authorities have responded to the Islamist threat “with shaky legs,” he said.. In his remarks on Tuesday, Mr. Hollande said that only the knife attack was believed to have links to terrorism.
The National Front party, which has demanded sharp curbs on immigration, seized on the three attacks, however, to further castigate the authorities, accusing them of trying to minimize the threat posed by Islamic extremists in France.
“The Islamic State, in its recurring Internet appeals, is calling to fight these ‘dirty French,’ as they put it, most notably by stabbing them, which was done in Joué-lès-Tours, and by running them over with cars, which, curiously, was done in Dijon and Nantes,” Florian Philippot, a vice president of the National Front, told RTL radio on Tuesday. The authorities have responded to the Islamist threat “with knees like jelly,” he said.