The travel advice for France changes from green to yellow. This means that travel to France is possible, but that travelers throughout the country must be extra alert, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on Thursday.
France raised its national threat level to the highest category on Sunday, assessing the terrorism threat as ‘probable’. The reason was the terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow two days earlier, which ultimately killed 143 people.
According to the French government, the increased risks mainly apply in larger cities. By switching to the highest level of the French anti-terrorist plan Vigipirate, the French government can deploy more security measures to protect citizens.
The Summer Olympics will start in Paris in just under four months. The opening ceremony of the sports festival, which lasts seventeen days, will take place on July 26 on the Seine. About a hundred divers and 45,000 officers must guarantee safety. 2,500 police officers will come from abroad to support the French, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced at the beginning of March
Stabbing incident at Eiffel Tower
The Netherlands tightened the travel advice for the French capital from green to yellow at the beginning of December to prevent possible violent attacks after a fatal stabbing incident near the Eiffel Tower. A 26-year-old man known as a radicalized Islamist attacked unsuspecting walkers with a knife and a hammer.
A German tourist succumbed to stab wounds and two other tourists suffered superficial injuries, but of course also psychological trauma that will be immense, according to French Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau. One of the injured was an English tourist, the newspaper reported Le Parisien. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecution (Pnat) opened an investigation.
The suspect reportedly told officers shortly after his arrest that he “could no longer bear to see Muslims dying, whether in Afghanistan or Palestine.” The 20-year-old also reportedly stated that he was “outraged” by “what happened in Gaza” and that France would be “complicit in what Israel did there,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said at a news conference at the crime scene.
The threat level was lowered again in January.
Teacher stabbed to death
The attack in Paris came less than two months after one in Arras, northern France, where a teacher was stabbed to death on October 13. After that attack, the French anti-terror plan Vigipirate was raised to the maximum level of an ‘immediate threat’.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss anything from the stars.
Yes, I want free unlimited access
Tags: Travel advice France green yellow threat level Visitors extra alert
