France: National Security measures
01 January 1991
France: National Security measures
artdoc April=1995
In August, interior minister Pasqua mobilised the entire police
force of Paris to carry out mass identity checks in immigrant
areas, drafting in police reinforcements from the provinces to
guard railway stations and public buildings. Twenty-five Arabs
were interned in a disused army barracks at Folembray in northern
France, twenty of whom were subsequently deported. Five Islamic
publications were officially prohibited.
Unless otherwise stated, the summaries in this section are
taken from the following publications: Libération 10,11,12,.8.94,
Le Monde 10,18.8.94, Guardian 4,5,6,9,8.8, 13,9.94, Independent
5,6,8,9,10,11,26.8.94, Jewish Chronicle 12.8.94, Times 1.9.94).
Killings in Algeria
The ostensible reasons for the crack-down was the killing of
three gendarmes and two consular officials in Algeria by Islamic
gunmen from the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). The killings took
place at the residential estate of Ain-Allah in Algiers, where
most of the French official community live. At the ceremony to
mark the return of the men's bodies, prime minister, Edouard
Balladur warned religious fanatics against building ideology on
`hatred and odious murders'. According to Pasqua, the French
government received threats from Muslim fundamentalists that
there would be reprisals unless those at Folembray were released
and it was because of this, and in anticipation of further
threats, that the identity checks were instigated Later, on 10
August, in an interview with Radio Luxembourg, Pasqua officially
acknowledged that the identity checks were a `fishing expedition'
with no direct link to the Algerian violence. He told Radio
Luxembourg that: `If you don't go fishing, you'll never catch any
fish'.
Special police operation
The Interior Minister issued a circular to all police prefects
on 5 August `alerting them to the dangers of Islamic terrorism'.
Following this, systematic identity checks took place each night
in Paris, particularly in the immigrant quarters of Belleville
and Barbès where roadblocks - as they were in the Champs Elysées
- were set up. Patrols from the French special branch and secret
services were sent in to immigrant areas, to try to identify
Algerians sympathetic to the fundamentalist FIS. Airport security
was also increased, causing long delays at immigration. By 16
August, 30,000 people had been stopped and searched. Only 70 out
of the 5000 people stopped between 6-8 August were held for
further questioning, mostly for immigration or driving offences.
The effect of the police operation in Barbès was to act as an
informal curfew. `The whole area is empty' said a police officer
`this is not ideal for our normal activities'. Random identity
checks without explanation were authorised.
Raids and arrests
To the sixteen suspected Islamic fundamentalists placed under
house-arrest, others were added after two dramatic police raids.
On 10 August, police raids took place in Paris, Lyon, Lille,
Marseilles and Sartrouville. Officers from the security branch,
counter-espionage, the CID and the border police had gathered the
previous day at the offices of the `United Co-ordination of the
Anti-Terrorist Struggle' to launch the operation at targeted
individuals.
Bans
On 5 August, Pasqua also announced that five publications, edited
abroad and associated with the FIS, would be banned. A decree
published in the Journal Officiel forbade the circulation,
distribution and sale of three publications in Arabic and two in
French. Al Ansar (edited in Warsaw by `The Partisans of Jihad in
Algeria and Elsewhere'), Al Ribat and Al Fath al Moubine. The
other two publications, El Djihad and Front Islamque due Salut,
Armée Islamique due Salut are in French.
The decree justifies the ban on the grounds of their `violently
anti-Western and anti-French tone and the call to terrorism' and
the `messages which could enda