FRANCE-SHOOTING/LAWS UPDATE France to hire staff, invest money in security following Charlie Hebdo attacks

Record ID: 324429

  • Title: FRANCE-SHOOTING/LAWS UPDATE France to hire staff, invest money in security following Charlie Hebdo attacks
  • Date: 21st January 2015
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 21, 2015) (REUTERS FOR AGENCY POOL) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER MANUEL VALLS WALKING TO PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER, MANUEL VALLS, SAYING: "One should never underestimate the magnitude and the difficulty of the tasks of the intelligence services -- to whom I want to pay homage again -- faced with individuals who use more and more sophisticated strategies of concealment and protecting their exchanges. That's why the first urgency, the first requirement is to further reinforce the human and technical means of our intelligence services. I say further because we need to go further than our commitments since 2012." JOURNALISTS WRITING (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER, MANUEL VALLS, SAYING: "In total, 425 million euros of investment credit for equipment and the functioning which will be dedicated over the next three years to this reinforcement plan." JOURNALIST TYPING ON PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER, MANUEL VALLS, SAYING: "Over the next three years, there will be 2,680 new jobs dedicated to the fight against terrorism in the police, defence and justice services of the state and in jurisdiction. This effort, ladies and gentlemen, is huge, but it's indispensable to guarantee the security and protection of the French people." JOURNALIST HOLDING NEWSPAPER (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER, BERNARD CAZENEUVE, SAYING: "Under the framework of the rules of law that are in place in our country, because the fight against terrorism also means that we apply the law, he (Coulibaly) was checked in December, there was no criminal offence against him, so the services who checked him transmitted the information that had to be transmitted in accordance with his judicial status." MINISTERS LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA78RLDZC506ACXEMEPO7O1JDDF
  • Story Text: French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Wednesday (January 21) that France will boost spending on security to prevent attacks on its soil and hire new staff for anti-jihadist work, after two Islamist attacks killed 17 people two weeks ago.
    "One should never underestimate the magnitude and the difficulty of the tasks of the intelligence services -- to whom I want to pay homage again -- faced with individuals who use more and more sophisticated strategies of concealment and protecting their exchanges," Valls told a news conference after the measures were agreed by President Francois Hollande's cabinet.
    "That's why the first urgency, the first requirement is to further reinforce the human and technical means of our intelligence services. I say further because we need to go further than our commitments since 2012," he said.
    Warning the threat remained high after the most deadly Islamist attack on French soil, Valls said the state would hire 2,680 in the police, justice, intelligence and defence sectors by 2018 for anti-jihadi work, surveillance and security.
    "In total, 425 million euros of investment credit for equipment and the functioning which will be dedicated over the next three years to this reinforcement plan," he said.
    "Over the next three years, there will be 2,680 new jobs dedicated to the fight against terrorism in the police, defence and justice services of the state and in jurisdiction. This effort, ladies and gentlemen, is huge, but it's indispensable to guarantee the security and protection of the French people," he added.
    He said that some 60 million euros would be used to beef up anti-radicalisation schemes and dozens of extra Muslim chaplains would also be employed to work with potential militants in France's overcrowded jails.
    France is struggling to keep watch over an estimated 1,200 radical Islamists and some 200 people who have returned home after fighting with militant groups in Syria and Iraq.
    Valls said a possible penalty would be debated under which offenders would be stripped of certain civic rights - an idea floated by the conservative opposition which mirrors a post-World War Two law barring collaborators with Nazi occupiers from voting, holding office or working for the state.
    Despite the extra spending, France will respect public finance commitments made to its EU partners by saving money in other areas of public spending to offset the cost, Valls added.
    French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed a report by satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine that police had stopped Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibaly -- who took several hostages at a Paris kosher supermarket on January 9 --- in his car on December 30 and checked his identity, but had let him go after superiors did not respond to their requests for further instructions, saying that there was no criminal offence against him.
    "Under the framework of the rules of law that are in place in our country, because the fight against terrorism also means that we apply the law, he (Coulibaly) was checked in December, there was no criminal offence against him, so the services who checked him transmitted the information that had to be transmitted in accordance with his judicial status," Cazeneuve said.
    Four men aged 22 to 28 were placed under formal investigation over the killing of a police officer and of four hostages at the Jewish store near Paris, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday.
    The men are suspected of having bought weapons including knives and tear gas later found among the possessions of the gunman who attacked the kosher store.
    The investigation is also looking into the possibility some accomplices had fled France.
    Police are cooperating with authorities in Turkey, Spain and Belgium.
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