French Socialist PM accuses opposition of using Nice attacks to 'destabilise government' as security row intensifies




French Prime Minister Manuel Valls CREDIT: REUTERS
David Chazan, paris 25 JULY 2016 • 1:58PM

A row over security on the night of the Bastille Day massacrethreatened to provoke a political crisis as France’s prime minister yesterday (Mon) accused the opposition of a campaign “to destabilise the government”.

Manuel Valls said allegations that the police deployment in Nice on July 14 was insufficient to protect holiday crowds from a lorry attack that left 84 dead were “purely political”.

President Francois Hollande called for an end to the controversy, promising a judicial inquiry would “establish the truth”.

Mr Valls defended the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, who is under opposition pressure to resign after a Nice police officer claimed that his office pressured her to lie about the police presence on the night of the massacre.

The Socialist prime minister described Mr Cazeneuve, who said he would sue the policewoman for “defamation”, as “a statesman (and) a man of integrity”.

Mr Valls lashed out at Christian Estrosi, the Right-wing president of the Provence, Riviera and Alps region, for accusing the government of “lying” about the security arrangements.

He accused the opposition of “attacking democracy and the Republic”, saying it was adopting “the same method (of) political violence” as Donald Trump. The US Republican presidential nominee has suggested that terror attacks in France and Germany were “their own fault because they allowed people to come into their territory”.

Mr Valls said Mr Estrosi should show he is “worthy of his election and worthy of the French people,” adding that he was only elected thanks to Socialist supporters who backed him to prevent the victory of a far-Right candidate.

Mr Estrosi responded: “The State must stop obstructing the truth.” He added that Mr Valls “is insulting us as elected officials and in a way is insulting the memory of the victims… who were our friends and in too many cases the children of our friends.”

Sandra Bertin, a municipal officer who runs the Nice CCTV control room, maintained her accusation that on the day after the attack, an envoy from the interior ministry ordered her to submit a

report saying national police were guarding the seafront Promenade des Anglais.

She refused, saying only municipal officers were visible on the cameras when Mohamed Lahaouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a 19-tonne lorry through crowds at 55 mph.
Local officials and residents said the more heavily armed national police, who might have been had been able to stop the lorry by shooting its tyres, were withdrawn hours before the attack.

A poll released at the weekend showed that only about a third of French voters trust the Socialist government to deal with terrorism and two-thirds would prefer a government of national unity.

French PM accuses opposition of using Nice attacks to 'destabilise government' as security row intensifies