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TERRORISM

Vaud politicians call for ‘anti-radicalization hotline’

MPs in the canton of Vaud are calling for the creation of a telephone helpline for people to report others they suspect of being radicalized.

Vaud politicians call for ‘anti-radicalization hotline’
File photo: Alan Clark

The bill, led by MP Claire Richard, was lodged with the Vaud government on Tuesday, reported news agencies.

Manned by qualified personnel, the hotline would help combat terrorism by allowing people to voice their suspicions, feel its supporters.

“Reporting your suspicion about someone you know and asking for help is often a very difficult step to take,” say the bill’s backers, feeling that a permanent hotline would help in this situation.

The canton could possibly team up with Geneva, which has already suggested a similar solution, said new agencies.

Radicalization is an increasing worry in Switzerland, as several young people have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State.

In July the Swiss government published guidelines aiming to help members of the public identify potential cases, saying they are often in a better position to detect early signs of radicalization than the security services.

The report recommended that young people, parents and teachers should be better informed about the role of the internet in radicalization, and that teachers should be given training to detect the signs of radicalization among their students.

In May the city of Winterthur, the home town of several young people who have left for Syria, opened a new service aimed at preventing radicalization.

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.

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. 

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