Terrorism

France doubles border security forces

06 Nov, 2020

The recent wave of attacks in France and Austria couldn’t come at a worse time as a global pandemic ravages the continent. At the center of France’s concerns is a review of the Schengen zone rules.

The French president made a visit to the French border with Spain and announcing a doubling of the French border guards while urging EU states to bolster their own security. The effort is to curb terrorists from exploiting migrant flows to carry out terror attacks.

Marcon advocated for a “deep overhaul” of the Schengen zone, Europe’s special open-border area. He urged Europe to set up a real police force and deploy them to its external borders. While at the border town of Le Perthus he described the situation as a matter of “national security”. The announcement of doubling the country’s border forces from 2,400 to 4,800 was made public alongside Interior minister Gerald Darmanin and European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune.

Attacks

The sentiments of the French President are a culmination of recent developments where a knife-wielding terrorist from Tunisia arrived in France from Italy killing three people at a church in Nice on October 30. Last month, school teacher Samuel Patty was brutally beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee for showing cartoons of Prophet Mohammed during a class debate on free speech.

Early this week, a 20-year-old Austrian of Albanian descent killed four people across Vienna in cold blood. He was a documented “Islamic State” sympathizer with a criminal record. He earlier crossed into Slovakia in an attempt to purchase ammunition but a failure of communication between Austria and Slovakia resulted in no follow-up.

In a pre-emptive effort to prevent other incidences, the French authorities have deployed thousands of soldiers across schools and worship centers. Security forces are currently at their highest level of alert.

Macron urges Europe to strengthen border controls after terror attacks https://t.co/KVyb4RUNvc pic.twitter.com/OwS0JjGze8
— FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) November 5, 2020

Macron promised to present the county’s proposals on how to enhance European border security during their summit next month. His proposal would be based on his letter to citizens last year that stresses the need for a common border force with one asylum office working for communal border control and intelligence sharing across Europe.

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