AT LEAST 14 French airports have received bomb threats today, with at least eight evacuated, in the latest series of false alarms that have rattled the country over the past week.
Most of France’s major airports – with the exception of its two biggest in Paris – were temporarily evacuated yesterday, leading to at least 130 flight cancellations.
Today, the evacuations were focused on small airports such as Brest, Carcassonne, Bordeaux and Montpellier.
Aviation authority DGAC confirmed the bomb threats without giving a precise number, while several airports put out social media messages about the evacuations and checks by security forces.
France, which has large Jewish and Muslim populations, has been on high alert since the Hamas’s assault on Israel and since a teacher was killed last week by an attacker who had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group.
“It’s a serious nuisance, but we take zero risks,” said a spokesperson for Bordeaux-Merignac Airport, which had already seen a three-hour evacuation on Wednesday that led to a dozen flights being cancelled.
Transport Minister Clement Beaune wrote on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday that “planned false alerts are dangerous and unacceptable,” adding that offenders risk two years in prison and a €30,000-euro fine.
The Louvre museum and Palace of Versailles have also received threats in recent days, leading to temporary closures.
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