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THE FRENCH PRIME minister has said it was a “failure” that one of the attackers who killed a priest earlier this week had been released with an electronic tag.
Manuel Valls also told Le Monde newspaper today he is “open” to a temporary ban on the foreign financing of mosques.
The two men who attacked a French church and brutally murdered a priest this week pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Yesterday, the French media said it will no longer use terrorists photos as publications want to prevent “glorification” of the killers.
The attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray came as France was still coming to terms with the Bastille Day killings in Nice claimed by IS.
Security failings
Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve have come under fire for perceived security failings that have failed to prevent three major terror attacks in France in 18 months.
The fact that one of the church attackers, 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, was awaiting trial on terror charges and had been fitted with an electronic tag means judges needed to take a “different, case-by-case, approach,” Valls said.
However, the prime minister stressed that the judges in this individual case should not be held responsible for this “act of terrorism.”
And as the jihadist killing of a priest at the altar of his church sparked fears of religious tensions in secular France, Valls said the country needed to “invent a new relationship” with Islam.
That statement comes just two days after Hollande, members of his government and opposition rivals gathered together at the symbolic Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris for a mass attended by Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders to pay tribute to the murdered priest.
‘War of religions’
Valls has warned that the goal of the attack, claimed by Islamic State jihadists, was to “set the French people against each other, attack religion in order to start a war of religions”.
France remains on high alert after Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring more than 300.
The 14 July killings were the third major terror attack in France in little more than 18 months.
Since the Nice attack, Hollande has received intense criticism from his political opponents who accuse his government of failing to do enough to prevent the tragedy.
While visiting Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Dublin last week, Hollande said it was correct to ask questions about the event planning, why fireworks were held on 14 July, and what involvement the local and national police had in the event.
He said there would be truth and transparency regarding the investigation. A report will be delivered as soon as next week, he said.
Additional reporting Christina Finn
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The American military have dropped worse things on Japan.
@michael: Baseball?
@michael: so True, and “regrettable” who writes that stuff, regrettable is when you forget to get milk .
Why would they have to fly over a school? Also, where is the justification of having a military base outside of US territory?
@Andy K:
If any flight path had to avoid every school, hospital or any other place with a high level of footfall then we would have to stop flying altogether.
As for the bases outside of the US, the Japanese asked them to be there.
@Andy K: Kim Jong Un
@Andy K: the upcoming War with North Korea I’d surmise ?
@Thought for Food: Hmm, I did not know Japanese forces requested the US to stay there. I thought it was more like what happened in Germany where there was no peace treaty signed after WW2.
And I do not mean to stop every aircraft flying over schools, but a helicopter is a different scenario. They can easily change their flight path.
@Andy K:
Again, no they can’t if they had to for every school or other high traffic area. This is one incident out of tens of thousands of flyovers and there were no casualties. Statistically the cars driving past are far more dangerous.
As for the American presence in Japan, the US and Japanese governments signed an agreement where the Japanese would forego an offensive military and in exchange the US would provide military protection from external threats to Japanese sovereignty.
@Andy K: when a football team is playing another football team they’ll send scouts to the other teams training ground to watch them train before a big game. Id say it’s much like this
@Andy K: ah Andy. Uk, Philippines, South Korea, etc etc. Wakey wakey
@Thought for Food: that’s not really true. It is a forced occupation that Japan pays billions of dollars every year to the US to be there. At the end of the US occupation of Japan after WW2, the US changed that “land occupation” into a protective force that Japan has to pay for. Officially Japan requested it, but in reality it was forced by the US who can control access to the Pacific Ocean, and keep an eye on China.
@Thought for Food: now having said that, China claims the Okinawa islands as theirs, so if the US decided to leave that place, China would jump on it. Okinawa is strategically way too important to be left alone unfortunately. Control of Okinawa controls the access to the Pacific Ocean. I don’t think the US will never leave that place.
@Andy K: to defend the rest of you who won’t or can’t defend yourself. Bitch and complain you ungrateful whatever. Security is secured with blood and sweat. How about some of yours for awhile.
I wonder was it a new, clear window?
Of course they are taking it “very seriously “, those doors aren’t cheap you know.
@Larry Doyle: windows
Wasn’t “regrettable” the word used when paramilitaries killed, maimed or injured others than whom the incendiary/viable device was intended for? They never worked out that human beings are sentient, except maybe when a device went off prematurely in the bomber’s hand. And only of late are we realising that animals can feel – even marine life has feelings. Humanity – “a joke in progress.” And before someone says, “speak for yourself!” …I DO.
@Paul Jennings:
What about plants, do they not have feelings too?
@Nick Allen: Actually, they do. They can feel pain and they also react to plants nearby being injured or killed. There have been numerous studies and they seem to show that plants to have feelings.
@Nick Allen: well I take care of mine and talk to them even. They don’t also respond no matter how much t.l.c. I give them. In fact sometimes they seem to absolutely thrive on neglect. We don’t speak the same language. A bit like some of the women I’ve encountered. Self sentient primarily.
“Ooh,shut that door!
@gerry fallon: it’s the window Gerry.
Let’s hope the North Koreans don’t invade anytime soon with the keystone cops on this base.
It could have been a real pane in the neck.
“Regrettable”? Seriously?
Regrettable ? No shiiiit sherlock !!
A piece left over from WW11
New bomb. Glass
have your say