France to tighten security for Paris talks
Print Edition
FRANCE will reinstate controls on its borders — normally open to other countries in Europe’s free-travel zone — for the period around a major United Nations climate conference in Paris, the interior minister said yesterday.
Authorities are on alert for violent protests and potential terror attacks around the November 30-December 11 conference, as 80 heads of state and tens of thousands of other people are expected to attend the opening.
Bernard Cazeneuve said on BFM television yesterday that the controls will be in place for a month “in the context of terrorist threats that could come and stain this large international gathering that is carrying a grand message for humanity.”
Europe’s so-called Schengen zone of countries with open borders allows for occasional reintroduction of internal border checks, which some countries have done amid this year’s migrant crisis.
France submitted a note to European Union authorities last month announcing border checks at all airports with international flights and at 131 land crossings with Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
France is still reeling from deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in January on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery.
Since then, it has seen several other smaller attacks or attempts, including when a heavily armed Islamic radical was prevented by American passengers from attacking a high-speed train in August.
France is also bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq as part of a United States-led coalition, and has troops fighting extremists in Africa.
The climate conference is aimed at reaching the most ambitious accord to date for world governments to reduce emissions that cause global warming.
Organizers expect at least 40,000 people and thousands of activists from environmental, human rights and other groups from around the world. A march is planned through Paris on November 29, and protest groups plan to try to blockade the conference site on December 11 and 12.
France faces routine protests that are largely peaceful but sometimes degenerate into violence by an extremist fringe.
The US Embassy in Paris has warned American citizens to be particularly vigilant around the climate conference.
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