Three French schools evacuated over false bomb alerts

Three schools evacuated in France over bomb alerts

Paris, Nov 12

According to French daily Le Parisien, the evacuations took place at three educational institutions in Marseille in southern France, in Morez in eastern France, and Laon, a town in northeastern France.

The French Ministry of National Education confirmed to Le Parisien that three bomb alerts were reported on Thursday, but ruled out any "mass phenomenon."

President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France was "very vigilant" in the face of the "epidemic of bomb alerts and threats."

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ninth European Political Community (EPC) summit in the Irish capital of Dublin, he said there was not yet sufficient evidence to attribute responsibility for the threats, adding that foreign powers could not yet be identified as behind them, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The incidents come amid a broader wave of bomb threats across Europe in recent days. In Italy, a series of schools received bomb threat emails, with the provisional figure standing at 1,803 institutions, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

A bomb alert reported Thursday morning at Calais-Frethun railway station in Pas-de-Calais department in northern France has been lifted, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais announced on social media platform X.

Earlier Thursday, the prefect had announced that there was a bomb alert at Calais-Frethun railway station, warning that it could affect traffic in the surrounding area. The prefect later said that the security check had been completed and road traffic was gradually resuming.

Regional train operator TER Hauts-de-France said on X that rail traffic had been suspended in both directions on the line following the report of an unattended piece of luggage at Calais-Frethun station.

International high-speed rail operator Eurostar said that some of its trains connecting London and Paris were disrupted by the incident.

— IANS