Guarding the beaches

Locally we have seen lifeguards at the river and lake bathing places, employed by local authorities to keep watch over the enthusiastic but not always experienced bathers. But at le Bacares, near Perpignan, the local maire has the largest beach in Roussillon to keep watch over.
9 kilometres of  sand at the Mediterranean shore attract 200000 visitors per day and the mairie has recruited 22 lifeguards to patrol the beach from 9 watch posts.
The guards noticed that people still needed rescuing at lunchtime, so have been obliged to change their hours from 9-12.30 and 14.30-19h to provide a continuous cover from 11h - 19h. Outside those hours the mairie is not responsible, though, of course rescue services are available via the pompiers.

Le Barcares, Roussillon

Emergency prolonged

The new Prime Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, announced that the state of emergency installed after the Paris attacks has been prolonged for the fifth time.
He said that since the beginning of the year some 17 attacks have been averted using the security measures put in place. Most of these attacks planned by terrorist groups (or individuals) were avoided by use of intelligence and surveillance such as telephone monitoring. Around 2000 people are thought to be involved in jihadist groups in France.
comments to taglines82@gmail.com

Patrimoine visits under threat

Next weekend (17th and 18th September) is the traditional European "patrimoine" (heritage) weekend when access to buildings not normally open to the public is afforded. But security conditions imposed by prefectures may prevent access to some more important structures. In some buildings searches and airport style detector gates must be installed, imposing costs and personnel which are beyond local authority means.
It may be wise to check with the mairies, especially in the bigger towns, whether full participation in the days will be available.
comments to taglines82@gmail.com

It's not fair

The maire (LR) of Lavaur, Tarn, has decided to cancel the annual fair due next weekend. The town will still hold its festival, but no fair. The maire considers that in the light of the Nice attack the security measures needed would be too costly, unless the Minister (PS) for the Interior provided extra police.
The fairground operators (forains) are not impressed, so have decided to hold a demonstration each day, with a procession from the town centre to th A68 motorway.

Whether the maire considers this disruption to the town's life to be less of a risk than a terrorist attack on the village fete is not known.
comments to taglines82@gmail.com

How a rumour causes panic

Police and pompiers after false alarm at Juan les Pins

The use of instant messages on social media (Twitter, Facebook et al) to spread so-called information had an unfortunate turn on Sunday evening at Juan les Pins on the Cote d'Azure. Late night drinkers heard an explosion, so took refuge in the bars. Someone tweeted "attentat a Juan les Pins". This was re-tweeted, with many asking the 24 hour news networks for confirmation or advising locals to go home.
20 minutes later France Bleu radio issued a denial of any attack, the gendarmes explaining that a car backfiring was the cause of the noise. But in the panic over 70 people were injured.
As often with these things there was an actual event (the backfire), but internauts were too quick to describe the event as an attack. The rumour was quickly spread as fact and the groups interested in spreading panic soon jump on board.
The national gendarmerie has a message on its Twitter page asking people not to propagate unsubstantiated information.
Hoaxes and rumours

comments to taglines82@gmail.com

Dont believe all you read in the press

Yesterday (Tuesday) most media announced the arrest of 3 suspected jihadists returned from Turkey. The three, including the brother-in-law of Mohammed Merah, were due to land at Orly airport and be arrested. But the Turkish authorities actually put them on a flight to Marseilles and the three men were at liberty in that city and saying nobody had tried to arrest them.
It seems that the security services had briefed the press, all of whom published the story and it was only when the lawyer of the suspects telephoned Le Monde that the true state of affairs was brought to light. It's a bit worrying that such a lapse can happen when the security alert state is set at its highest.
comments to taglines82@gmail.com