Surge of Attacks Strikes French Prisons Amid Rising Tensions

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin reported overnight attacks on several prisons, including vehicle arsons and gunfire incidents. The government vows to counteract burgeoning criminal networks affecting prison security.

French prisons have recently become the target of a troubling wave of attacks, prompting swift response from the French government. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that prisons across the country, including those in Toulon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, Valence, Nîmes, Luynes, Villepinte, and Nanterre, faced intimidation and violent assaults overnight.

Reports indicate incidents involving the burning of vehicles in prison car parks and gunfire directed at a Toulon facility from an automatic weapon. Following the alarming events, Darmanin took to social media platform X to express his solidarity with the prison officers and to confirm his immediate travel to Toulon to assess the situation personally.

While the minister refrained from assigning direct blame for these acts of violence, he emphasized that the French government is poised to implement measures aimed at significantly disrupting organized criminal activities believed to be behind the unrest. The attacks have drawn attention to the ongoing issues of security and safety within the nation's correctional facilities.