Risk of terror attacks in France remains extremely high, says interior minister

Issued on: 31/08/2020 - 19:44Modified: 31/08/2020 - 19:46

The comments by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin came two days before 14 people are due to go on trial over alleged involvement in attacks in January 2015 including on the Charlie Hebdo weekly that heralded a wave of militant strikes in France.

The threat "remains extremely high in the country," Darmanin said in a speech during a visit to France's internal security service the DGSI.

"The risk of terror of Sunni origin is the main threat that our country is facing," he added, promising a fight "without let-up".

He said 8,132 individuals had been registered on France's database of suspected Islamist radicals considered to be a potential security threat.

>> France commemorates Charlie Hebdo terror attack, five years on

Fourteen alleged accomplices in the January 7-9, 2015 jihadist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly, a French policewoman and a Jewish supermarket go on trial in Paris on Wednesday.

All of the perpetrators were killed in the aftermath of the assaults but lawyers for the victims and prosecutors insist the trial will be a hugely important if potentially traumatic moment.

Speaking on France Info radio Monday, national anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard dismissed the idea that it was just "little helpers" going on trial.

"It is about individuals who are involved in the logistics, the preparation of the events, who provided means of financing, operational material, weapons, a residence.

"All this is essential to the terrorist action," he said.

The January 2015 attacks heralded a wave of Islamist violence that left 258 people dead and raised unsettling questions about modern France's ability to preserve security and harmony for a multicultural society.

(AFP)