Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
PARIS TERROR ATTACK

TERRORISM

Bern issues condolences over Paris terrorist attack

The Swiss government on Wednesday afternoon issued a statement of “deepest condolences” to the families of victims of the attack on the editorial board of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that left 12 people dead and many more injured.

Published: 7 January 2015 17:27 CET
Bern issues condolences over Paris terrorist attack
Image from video of two gunmen involved in Paris terror attack. Photo: Public domaine

In a statement initially available only in German, the federal government said it was “appalled and shocked” by what was described by French President François Hollande as a "terrorist attack".

On Wednesday morning, gunmen armed with machine guns shot cartoonists and other editorial staff at the offices of the satirical magazine, as well as two policemen, before fleeing.

Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga said the assassinations were an attack on freedom of speech, a basic human right.

The attack shows that even in Western democracies “these fundamental rights and freedoms” are not self-evident and “must be defended at all cost”.

Sommaruga has sent a letter of condolences to French President François, while Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Burkhalter sent a similar letter to his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.

See also: 12 killed in terror attack on French magazine

                Charlie Hebdo: a history of controversy

CRIME

Hoax bomb threats against French airports ‘traced to Swiss email’

Repeated bomb threats against dozens of French airports which led to evacuations and flight cancellations have been 'traced to an email address in Switzerland', according to French authorities.

Published: 23 October 2023 09:13 CEST
Hoax bomb threats against French airports 'traced to Swiss email'

More than 70 bomb threats have been made against French airports in the past week, leading to evacuations at dozens of airports and at least 130 flights cancelled.

Most of the alerts were triggered by emails warning of a bomb in the airport – more than 70 such emails have been received by airports around the country such as Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris Beauvais, Marseille and dozens of smaller airports – including Basel-Mulhouse on the Franco-Swiss border. 

On Sunday French Transport Minister Clément Beaune said that “almost all of the threats have been traced to the same email address, situated in Switzerland”.

He added: “Since Wednesday, it is almost always the same email address that is used, located outside the European Union, in Switzerland”.

He called on hosting sites to help the French authorities, saying: “Everyone has a responsibility, including the platforms and social networks, not to support this kind of attack and to cooperate as quickly as possible with the French civil aviation authorities and our justice system.”

In France, the maximum penalty for making a hoax bomb threat is two years in jail and a €30,000 fine.

As well as airport evacuations and flight disruption, French tourist sites have also been hit with bomb hoaxes – the Palace of Versailles has been evacuated seven times in the past week.

It comes in the context of a tense situation in France as the country raised its terror alert to maximum after an apparent Islamist attack on Friday, October 13th in which a teacher was killed and two others wounded.

Security at large events such as the Rugby World Cup matches has been stepped up. 

SHOW COMMENTS