A coordinated attack struck prisons throughout France, with unknown attackers burning cars outside several prisons, leaving mysterious inscriptions and hitting a facility with automatic gunshots.
In recent months, Attorney General Gerald Darmanin and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau have vowed to strengthen the fight against drugs and drug-related crimes.
Prosecutor’s office and police sources said a prison warden’s car caught fire on Sunday to Monday in Seine-Et-Marne outside Paris, and the fire was taken to seven vehicles in the parking lot of a prison staff training center in Agen, southwestern France.
But most incidents – several car entanglements and automatic shootings at prisons near the southern city of Tallon were recorded overnight Monday to Tuesday.
The inscription “DDPF” (representing “the right of French prisoners”) was found in almost every location, except that the attacker left the mysterious abbreviation “DDFM” in a prison near Toulon.
The National Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said it is in charge of the investigation.
Darmanin went to the prison near Toulon, which was targeted by the gunfire on Tuesday.
He told the press outside the prison that French authorities “will not surrender”, adding that no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
He wrote on X earlier: “Trying to intimidate criminal institutions, from burning vehicles to automatic shootings.”
He added that France is facing “drug trafficking and measures are being taken to seriously undermine the criminal network.”
– “Protecting prison officials” –
Darmanin, a former interior minister, presided over what he called the “prison revolution” that envisions putting 200 France’s 700 most dangerous drug traffickers in two top security prisons.
The plan comes after escaping from alleged drug Baron Mohamed Amra last year, killing two prisoners. He was subsequently arrested in Romania and extraditioned to France.
A source close to the case said all investigations were conducted in the attack this week, but investigators did not rule that anarchists might be behind them.
But these methods seem to be reminiscent of the methods used in the drug world.
“It seems like I knew when I was the Minister of the Interior: People paid small contracts of hundreds of millions of euros to intimidate,” he said.
Sources close to the matter told AFP that a coordinated attack pursued by Darmanin is “apparently related to anti-drug gang strategies.”
Retailleau calls for “timely” strengthening “protecting prison officials and institutions”.
– “Total Attack” –
According to authorities, several people holding automatic rifles targeted the prison gate near Talon in the early hours of Monday.
AFP reporter reported that bullet holes were sprinkled on the gray gate of the prison and read and write “DDFM” with mysterious inscriptions.
Ten prison vehicles were marked with the inscription DDPF overnight Monday to Tuesday in the southern port city of Marseille.
Police sources said three vehicles, including two belonging to prison staff, caught fire in the parking lot of Verreput prison north of Paris. A fuel tank was found on the scene, and CCTV footage showed two people burning the car.
Police sources said AIX and Valence in the southern part of the country were also burned.
“These crimes are a comprehensive attack on our institutions, the Republic and employees serving the Republic,” FO Justice Union said.
Wilfried Fonck, state secretary of the UFAP UNSA Judicial Alliance, told AFP that the prison system does not have enough staff to ensure the prison perimeter “24/7”.
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