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THE FRENCH MINISTER for the Interior has threatened to sue a policewoman for defamation, after she claimed his ministry pressured her into changing a report into security at the Nice fireworks display.
The 14 July Bastille Day celebrations saw 84 people killed when a man rammed a lorry into the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve – whose account of police deployments on the night has already faced questions - has been the lightning rod for criticism over alleged security failures.
Having resisted calls for his resignation from the far right, who are strong in the Riviera city, the Socialist hit back at the “grave accusations” made by the policewoman, saying he would sue for defamation.
He later told France 2 television that he would counter “a villainous campaign” of lies against him from opposition politicians in Nice “blow for blow”.
Policewoman Sandra Bertin, who is in charge of Nice’s system of security cameras, said she had been “literally harassed the entire time of writing”.
She told a media conference:
I was asked to change things and asked to send a modifiable report.
“Mr Cazeneuve obviously believes I am attacking him personally. I related what happened.
Now, it’s up to the investigation to determine and prove all that I have recounted.
Earlier, she told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper she had been put under pressure to detail the presence of the local police at the Bastille Day fireworks event and report national police had been deployed at two points.
“The national police were perhaps there, but I couldn’t see them on the video,” Bertin told the newspaper.
She added that she was ordered “to put in the specific positions of the national police, which I had not seen on the screen”.
Her lawyer, Adrien Verrier, told the media conference that “if indeed the facts are proven, they qualify as a criminal offence”.
On Thursday, daily newspaper Liberation reported that only one local police car was barring entry to the pedestrianised seafront when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel forced his lorry onto the Promenade des Anglais, mowing down families.
Escalating row
Since the Nice carnage, the third major attack in France in 18 months, Cazeneuve has also been locked in an escalating row with the right-wing leaders of the Riviera city over claims of slack security.
The furore was further fuelled by a request from prosecutors that security camera videos of the night of the attack be erased.
Local authorities claimed it amounted to “destruction of proof” but prosecutors, who already had a copy, said it was to stop “shocking” images of the events – in which 350 people were also injured – from leaking out.
Former Nice mayor Christian Estrosi, who now heads the regional administration, has also accused the government of lying over the number of police and soldiers protecting the crowds that night.
The head of the national police Jean-Marc Falcone joined the fray Sunday by taking the unusual step of calling a press conference to declare that “the manipulations attacking the national police, its leaders and its minister must stop”.
Full confidence
President Francois Hollande was forced on Friday to say that he still had “full confidence” in Cazeneuve, a key member of his government, promising “truth and transparency” on the security measures that were in place.
Cazeneuve’s office categorically denied Sunday that he had sent a representative to the local Nice police, “contrary to what Madame Bertin claims”.
Francois Molins, the Paris anti-terrorist prosecutor who is leading the investigation, told AFP he had sent two officers to talk to police in the Nice video unit on July 15 as part of his inquiry.
Cazeneuve called the claims “undignified” and pointed the finger at Estrosi, hinting that he had orchestrated “daily attacks” on him even though he was also partly responsible for security in Nice.
But the far-right National Front weighed in saying “the minister gave the impression that he was trying to stop the truth” leaking out in what they claimed was becoming a state scandal.
And Nice MP Eric Ciotti, an Estrosi ally from the same opposition Republicans party, said the policewoman’s testimony was “another element which shows that something is not transparent”.
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This is truly worrying, we are seeing a coordinated effort on behalf of government officials, police officers and the media to cover up terrorist atrocities committed by Islamic headbangers or worse they try and shift the blame to the “far right”, this is corruption from top down.
Its a rearguard action by those who promised a European Shangri-la following the arrival of millions of migrants.The blame game now that EU citizens are being slaughtered by these “new Europeans”…
Tommy..this article is about the about security presence on the night of the attack..nothing to do with covering up the terrorist attack..
The regressive left will always blame the white middle class cis gendered man for every problem in the world thet possible can.
The only group that are to be attacked and never listed too.
Dear TheWalkingBread – Your fingers are too fat for the buttons on your phone – get a laptop
No they won’t. Why are you lying? This is clearly a case of a politician trying to cover his a$$. Stop reading too much into it. As for this nonsense of coverups and conspiracies? These incidents are being extensively covered by media with all the witnesses you could want. But because 1 out of 3 viotent attacks wasn’t a terrorist attack (just a loner but case the like of which America has all the time) you freak out? As if two terrorist attacks in a week isn’t already bad enough?
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He is covering his behind after failing to provide enough security and cops etc, something this country does regularly.
jebus – Not Jesus,
Fat fingers…
That will end when Marine Le Pen is elected as the first female president of the French Republic. Everytime there is an Islamic atrocity, the likelihood of that happening increases.
If I started selling tinfoil hats on this site I’d be loaded. Please send your head size and I’ll send you my PayPal details.
By now the media would have us believe the truck driver was a white French national going to shoot a group of poor Muslims who accidently ran over the French people on his way there.
Has anyone got a photo or video of a driver actually in the truck ?? Could someone point me towards one because i cannot find one….this is all very strange….deleting CCTV , officers pulled two hours before…..this stinks to high heaven…
I hope that policewomen has some sort of proof like taped recordings otherwise these politicians will eviscerate her.
She’s just claiming something we already know , media and politicians sugar coating attacks away from Muslim’s , we all know the truth
Jack its worse than that…..do some digging…
The French government is making a bad habit of trying to cover up the truth. Also they tried coverup of the horrific mutilations & torture by Islamic terrorists during the Bataclan attack last November. It’s a scary thing when your government decides how much they think their citizens should know about this attacks.
Well, not exactly unique to French government. Or any time in history…
The only one to blame is the ba$tard who did it. More cops at a certain area would have meant more dead because they would have been run over too. Enough of playing politics.
Don’t be silly. It was armed officers who managed to shoot the driver bringing the truck to a halt. More armed police at the scene,rather than just the skeleton crew they had in place, would logically mean the chances of stopping him sooner would have been a lot greater.
The French authorities penny pinching has literally cost people’s lives. Hollande will go down as one of the worst presidents in the history of the Republic.
Daisy
on the evening of the atrocity/mass murder, one of the corps on the streets doing security were the reserves of the Foreign Legion. They were heavily armed and visible. About an hour and a half before the attack, these reserves were stood down and sent to barracks. According to some of the reserves (whom I know personally and spoke to in the past few days) this was because there was too much military presence on the streets and it didn’t look good.
Had they been present, then the truck would not have done 50m, let alone almost 2km. I do not believe in conspiracy before the incident, it is just a terrible error on the part of the person who gave the command for them to be stood down.
However, since then there is a massive cover-up on the part of the politicians to cover their horrendous error. Full credit to Mme Bertin for standing her ground and not caving in to pressure. Others have.
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