Surveillance around places of Catholic worship reinforced

Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects on Friday to “significantly strengthen” the surveillance of churches and offices on Monday on the occasion of the Catholic feast of the Assumption because of the “persistence of the terrorist risk”. “I hope that your attention will be particularly focused on the offices, gatherings, processions and pilgrimages” of August 15, writes the Minister of the Interior in a telegram.

“The persistence of a high level of the terrorist threat requires the maintenance of strong vigilance vis-à-vis places of a religious nature”, he justifies. The soldiers of the “Sentinel” operation can also be deployed and “must be dissuasive and visible”, adds Gérald Darmanin.