Authorities are investigating whether the coordinated prison attacks stem from drug activity or anxiety associated with prison activists groups.
On the second consecutive night, coordinated arson attacks target French prisons.
At a press conference, he also said Vendin-Le-Vieil, in northern France, near the Lens, and Condé-Sur-Sarth, in the Normandy area near Alençon, are both “blackmailed.”
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The letter “DDPF” – the acronym “Défense Des Droits Des Prishniers Français” (defense of French prisoners’ rights) continues to be tagged on attack sites.
Francetvinfo also believes that the group DDPF is a group on the left – praised the responsibility for the attack, saying, “We are not terrorists. We are here to defend human rights within prisons.”
Epoch Times was unable to verify DDPF’s Telegram account.
“Social media is currently creating these kinds of imitation moments that are aimed at testing key territories of the nation and pushing the nation back, terrifying prison officers and seeking strikes, and raising debates about whether the Justice Minister is going too far with his firmness,” he said.
“So despite the threat, we’re not going to backtrack.”
French prison union Syndicat Force Ouvrière Justice said in a statement on April 16th about social media platform X that the arson attack “targeted a block of Meaux’s prison guard flats and the inscription “DDPF” was found on the scene.”
It says it “strongly condemns this co-illion behavior” and offers full support to its colleagues.
“Our colleagues are not targets,” the union said.
PNAT said officials of France’s domestic intelligence agency DGSI will support the investigation.
“The nature of these facts, the coordinated nature of actions committed at multiple points of the territory, and the purpose of seriously obstructing the public order with intimidation… At this stage, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, in this principal’s context, will be responsible for ensuring the coordination of the states involved,” Pnat said.
The fatal shootout on November 1, 2024 in the once wise French town of Poitiers, known historically for its medieval church, brought the death of a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the head, shocked the country.
The shootout involving hundreds of people was the latest in a wave of drug-related crime that turned cities like Poitia, Rennes and Marseille into battlefields.
In Poitiers, Retero raised vigilance regarding the rise of these “narcotic environments” and compared the situation to the growing controls that drug cartels have in Mexico.
Retailleau said that facing two options: “There’s either general mobilization or the country’s Mexicanization,” would endanger the formation of gang-controlled “enclaves, ministates and narco invasions” on French territory.
