Psychosis or real threat? Bomb threats increased once again this Thursday in French airports. At least eleven of them were evacuated, sometimes briefly, causing a second consecutive day of disruptions to flight operations. Gérald Darmanin announced the arrest of 18 people in 48 hours, “mainly minors”. The government warned on Wednesday that each threat would be the subject of a complaint, with the Minister of Justice denouncing “the little puppets who have fun with these threats, which are false in this case”.
Already on Wednesday, most major French airports, with the exception of the two Parisian ones, had been temporarily evacuated after threats, leading to the cancellation of 130 flights and countless delays. These alerts have been increasing for several days in France, particularly since the jihadist attack which cost the life of teacher Dominique Bernard. The 11 airports which triggered evacuations on Thursday are, according to the AFP count: Basel-Mulhouse, Bordeaux-Mérignac, Beauvais, Clermont-Ferrand, Carcassonne, Tarbes-Lourdes, Béziers, Montpellier, Nantes, Perpignan, Lille. Those in Paris, Orly and Charles-de-Gaulle operated normally, as on Wednesday.
Complaints expected
Contacted by AFP, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) confirms that “several national airports received threats of attack this morning”, without further details in the face of a fluctuating situation. Average delays at departure or arrival were, however, much lower on Thursday than the day before, when they reached up to three hours on certain platforms, according to the DGAC’s online dashboard.
The government warned on Wednesday that each threat would be the subject of a complaint, with the Minister of Justice denouncing “the little puppets who have fun with these threats, which are false in this case”. The criminal sanction can be up to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.