The nights of Sunday to Monday, April 14 and Monday to Tuesday, April 15, were marked by attacks on several penitentiary structures and their minions, in a dozen towns in the south of France and on the outskirts of Paris. Prison staff cars parked in parking lots (Réau, Valence, Villepinte, Aix-Luynes, Nîmes), alongside the national prison school (Agen) or in front of their staff quarters (Marseille, Nanterre) went up in smoke. In addition, the entrance to a prison was machine-gunned (Toulon-La Farlède), and the gate to an ERIS base was set on fire (Aix-Luynes).
This “coordinated attack” over two consecutive nights led the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) to take charge of the investigation, which was then entrusted to the Anti-Terrorist Sub-Directorate of the Judicial Police, local services and the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI). The investigation includes “three charges, including terrorist criminal association”, explained the Minister of Justice today, because “the very nature of the action” reflects a “concerted operation aimed at seriously disturbing public order through intimidation”. As for the prison guards, they are naturally disgusted, as Damien Tripenne, national secretary of the CGT penitentiary union, declared on a major radio station: “I have comrades, colleagues, who are bruised because it’s their vehicles that have been targeted, it’s their homes that have been targeted… fear is going to have to change sides” (RTL, 15/4).
In addition, the Ministry of the Interior’s spokespersons pointed out that in several places the tag “DDPF” (interpreted by the journalists as the acronym for “rights [or rather defense] of French prisoners”, named after a Telegram channel) was found, as well as “anarchist slogans”. This led them to put forward both “ultra-left groups” and “drug trafficking” in their chatter. A well-known “source close to the case” told a state news agency that “according to the initial elements of the investigation, the anarchist trail seems to be gaining ground in the vast majority of cases” (AFP, 15/4, 15h50).
Whatever the case, their hypothesis is that these attacks are linked to the struggle of some and others against the construction of vast high-security wards, i.e. veritable tombs where hundreds of prisoners will be buried alive from this summer onwards… and more generally against the toughening of prison conditions (reduced walks and activities, beatings and humiliations by guards…) encouraged by Darmanin’s arrival at the Ministry of Justice.
Here, then, is a first glimpse of this series of nocturnal attacks on the prison administration and the property of its minor personnel:
- Agen (Lot-et-Garonne). At around 11:30 pm on Sunday April 13, unknown assailants drove up to the premises of the “École nationale d’administration pénitentiaire” (Enap) and set fire to the cars of prison guards in training. Six of them were completely destroyed by the flames, two others were damaged, and 1,000 student-guards were evacuated in the middle of the night to allow the fire department to intervene. A “DDPF” tag was found on the floor.
- Réau (Seine-et-Marne). On the same night, Sunday to Monday, April 14, a female guard’s vehicle was set on fire in the prison parking lot, and traces of hydrocarbons were found on three other guard vehicles, which had not caught fire.
Continue reading “France: About the coordinated attack on the prisons over the last two nights”