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POLICE

French teen shot dead in gunfight with police

An 18-year-old girl was killed in a gun battle with police in southeastern France in the early hours of Wednesday, prosecutors said, the latest in a nationwide string of violent traffic stops.

French teen shot dead in gunfight with police
A photograph shows a French police logo on a police car (Photo by FRED TANNEAU / AFP)

The girl was the passenger in a vehicle whose driver refused to stop when ordered and fired shots at officers, Grenoble prosecutor Eric Vaillant said in a statement.

She “died of the effects of a shot that hit her in the neck” when police returned fire, Vaillant added, while the wounded driver was brought to hospital.

The male driver had accelerated towards the officers when they got out of their vehicle to stop the car in the Grenoble suburb of Saint-Martin-d’Heres, the prosecutors said.

He lost control of the car following the exchange of fire and was captured while attempting to flee on foot.

France’s national internal affairs body, the IGPN, is probing the shots fired by the police, while the driver is under investigation for attempted murder of a public official.

More than 10 people have been killed in 2022 alone in France in situations where drivers have refused to halt when ordered by police.

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POLICE

France to increase security at churches over Easter

French authorities are to deploy members of the security forces in front of all Catholic and Protestant churches for the upcoming Easter weekend, further bolstering security in the aftermath of the Moscow attack.

France to increase security at churches over Easter

France has raised its security alert to the highest level after the Moscow concert hall attack that has claimed at least 143 lives.

Friday’s massacre, claimed by Islamic State jihadists, was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades.

In a memo sent to préfectures on Thursday and seen by AFP, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said that the “very high” level of the terrorist threat and persisting international tensions including the Gaza war and the Moscow attack mean that “extreme vigilance must be maintained” during the Easter celebrations.

Darmanin asked préfets to deploy law enforcement forces in front of “all” Catholic and Protestant churches, in particular during services on Friday and this weekend.

The interior minister said “particular attention” should be paid to vehicles parked near places of assembly or worship.

Two planned attacks have been foiled in France since the start of the year.

One involved a plan to stage “violent action against a Catholic religious building” by a man “clearly committed to jihadist ideology”, according to the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office.

The 62-year-old man was arrested and remanded in custody in early March, prosecutors said.

Catholics and Protestants commemorate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, while Orthodox Christians will conduct commemorations on May 5th.

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