“For security reasons, the Palace of Versailles is evacuating visitors and will reopen as soon as checks have been carried out.” This message, posted this Saturday October 21 at noon on the establishment’s X account (formerly Twitter)is starting to become commonplace.
This is the sixth time in a week that the Palace of Versailles has been evacuated, following a bomb threat, as police sources close to the matter explained to AFP. The evacuation was decided after a message relating to a bomb threat was issued on the moncommissariat.fr platform, as has been the case several times in recent days.
10 airports evacuated on Friday
False bomb threats have been increasing in France since the jihadist attack which cost the life of teacher Dominique Bernard in Arras on October 13. At least 11 airports carried out evacuations on Thursday. Ten were evacuated Friday, among 18 targeted by bomb threats. Alerts also affected educational establishments and major monuments, such as the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris and especially the Palace of Versailles.
A 37-year-old man, suffering from serious psychiatric problems, was arrested Friday morning in the Paris region for the false alarm on Wednesday, which had been made by telephone, we learned from a police source.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 visitors
According to figures communicated Friday morning by the Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti, these false alarms gave rise to the opening of 22 judicial investigations. The criminal sanction can be up to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.
At this time of the end of the high tourist season, between 10,000 and 15,000 visitors visit the entire vast site where the castle of King Louis XIV is located, according to the establishment’s press service.