“There was no relaxation” in the fight against the terrorist threat before the attack in Nice on July 14, 2016, assured Monday the former President of the Republic François Hollande, before the special assize court of Paris.
On July 14, 2016, an assailant driving a 19-ton truck deliberately targeted the crowd gathered on the Promenade des Anglais for the National Day, killing 86 people and injuring more than 450.
No systematic search on July 14
At the trial, which has been taking place since September 5, several civil party lawyers questioned the former head of state on a possible relaxation of vigilance after the Euro 2016 football tournament, which had just ended on July 10. . “All the forces on the ground have been maintained” and the vigilance instructions to the municipalities reiterated during the July 14 festivities, he said.
“On July 11, 2016, all the prefects met at the Ministry of the Interior and I told them: Euro 2016 is over, but the terrorist threat is still present”, then underlined Bernard Cazeneuve, called to testify after François Hollande.
The more visible device for this sporting event is explained by the fact that “the two events were not of the same nature”, argued the one who then occupied Place Beauvau. Unlike July 14, systematic searches were carried out at the entrance to the “Fan Zones”.
“No report”
“We could have abolished all the local festivals, asked that all the planned July 14 be postponed (…) But we considered” that we had to “show that we wanted to live, while taking protective measures”, underlined Hollande.
He added that the perpetrator of the Nice attack “was not regarded by the (intelligence) services as being capable” of carrying out a terrorist act and that there was therefore “no of elements to carry out an administrative house arrest and to “prevent the heinous crime”. “We had no report concerning an individual likely to take action” on this occasion, confirmed Bernard Cazeneuve.
Citing a report from the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the former minister indicated that 64 national police officers were mobilized on the Promenade des Anglais, 107 for all the events of July 14 in Nice and 197 on the whole of the constituency, figures “20% higher than the numbers mobilized the previous year”.
Estrosi will be heard
François Hollande, who was at the Avignon festival on the evening of the incident, also denied that CRS or mobile gendarmes had been specifically assigned to his security, to the detriment of other events organized that evening in the region.
“Did we have the means to ensure the security of July 14? The answer from the prefect and the mayor of Nice was yes, ”he said, stressing that it was at this level that the mechanism to be put in place was decided in detail.
The mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi as well as the one who occupied these functions during the facts, Philippe Pradal, will be heard at the trial on October 20. A judicial investigation has also been open since 2017 on the security system put in place that evening.