The former head of state, in office during the Nice attack on July 14, 2016, testified on Monday at the helm of the Paris Special Assize Court, just like his ex-minister The interior Bernard Cazeneuve.
Le Monde with AFP
Nearly a year after testifying to the trial of the attacks of November 13, 2015, the former President of the Republic François Hollande (2012-2017) was called upon to testify Monday October 10 before the Special Assize Court of Paris As part of the Nice attack. He assured that “there was no relaxation” in the strategy of the state to combat the terrorist threat, before the attack on July 14, 2016.
During the national holiday, that year, an attacker at the wheel of a 19-ton truck had voluntarily targeted the crowd gathered on the Promenade des Anglais for the traditional fireworks, killing 86 people and making more than 450s injured. The trial of the attack was opened on September 5.
While several lawyers of civil parties questioned the ex-head of the State on Monday on a possible relaxation of the security vigilance of the State after Euro 2016 football, which had just ended, the July 10, Mr. Hollande assured that “all the forces on the ground have been maintained” and the vigilance instructions in the reiterated municipalities during the festivities of July 14.
“all forces on the ground “and the” instructions “maintained
“On July 11, 2016, all of the prefects were gathered at the Ministry of the Interior and I told them:” Euro 2016 is over, but the terrorist threat is still present “”, said the ‘Former Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve (2014-2016), who was expressed at the helm after François Hollande.
The more visible system for this sporting event is explained by the fact that “the two demonstrations were not of the same nature”, defended the one who then occupied the Beauvau place, because, unlike July 14, Systematic excavations were made at the entrance to the fan zones during the European football championship.
“We could have deleted all the local festivals, to ask that all of the July 14 to be postponed. (…) But we consider” that we had to “show that we wanted to live, while taking protective measures” , also argued François Hollande during his visit to the bar.
The former President of the Republic added that the author of the Nice attack, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, “was not regarded by the [intelligence] services as being capable of” a passage to the ‘Terrorist act and that there were therefore “no elements to carry out an” administrative and “poisoning and” poisoning “. “We had no reports concerning an individual likely to take action” on this occasion, confirmed Bernard Cazeneuve.
The municipal security system in question
Citing a report from the General Inspectorate of the National Police, the former Minister of the Interior added that 64 national police officers were mobilized on the Promenade des Anglais that evening, out of the 107 mobilized for all events from July 14 in the city and the 197 on the whole of the constituency. These figures are “20 % higher than the workforce mobilized the previous year”, he added.
François Hollande, who was at the Avignon Festival on the evening of the facts, denied that CRS or mobile gendarmes were specifically assigned to his safety, to the detriment of other events organized that evening in the region.
Regarding the faulty security of the event, Mr. Hollande also launched: “Did we have the means to ensure the security of July 14? The response of the prefect and the mayor of Nice was “yes” “, pointing that it was at this level that the device was decided in detail.
The current mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, as well as the one who held his position during the facts – Philippe Pradal (2016-2017) – when he sat in the National Assembly, will be heard on October 20 before the Court Assizes. Judicial information has also been open since 2017 to the security system implemented that evening.
