French President Francois Hollande says France is still facing a security threat “at its highest level,” nearly two months after a series of coordinated terror attacks left 130 people dead in and around Paris.
“France is not done with terrorism,” Hollande said in his televised New Year address on Thursday, adding authorities have been working to foil such attempts regularly since the Paris attacks.
“The threat is still there. It remains in fact at its highest level, and we are regularly disrupting planned attacks.”
Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said more than 100,000 policemen had been deployed across the country, including 11,000 in Paris, to guard New Year’s celebrations.
Paris also called off an annual display of fireworks on the Champs-Élysées as part of security measures.
Last year, the French capital witnessed two deadly terror attacks claimed by the Takfiri terrorists operating in the Middle East.
On November 13, 2015, 130 people were killed and 350 others injured after assailants struck at least six different venues in and around Paris. The attacks were claimed by the Daesh Takfiri group mainly operating in Iraq and Syria.
The attacks in Paris are believed to have been carried out by European nationals who had joined Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
In January the same year, the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris came under attack, which claimed the lives of some 13 people. Several others were also killed in another assault on a market. The acts of violence were claimed by the al-Qaeda branch in Yemen.
France is considering proposed changes to its constitution, which could see French-born dual passport holders stripped of their nationality, if convicted of terrorism.
The European country has also been part of a US-led coalition purportedly targeting Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria.
This is while the Paris government has been among the major supporters of Takfiri militant groups fighting to topple the Syrian government since 2011.
Hollande said last November that 600 French nationals are currently fighting alongside terrorists in Iraq and Syria; Press TV reported.
S/SH
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