France Puts Troop Reinforcements into the Streets After Attacks

After a string of apparently unrelated attacks across France that have heightened concerns about Islamic militancy, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that hundreds of additional military personnel would be ordered onto the streets to reinforce a routine deployment of security forces.

Rescue workers aided victims in Dijon, France, on Sunday 
after a driver, identified as a 40-year-old man with
psychiatric issues, plowed into a crowd. 
Credit Christian Guilleminot/Le Bien Public, via AP

“There is a terrorist threat in France,” Valls told a news conference. “It is undoubtedly the main challenge of our time.”

Seeking to reassure a jittery nation unsettled by fears of militancy linked to the jihadi campaign in Syria and Iraq, Valls said that between 200 and 300 more military personnel would be deployed, in addition to 780 already on the streets as part of routine year-end precautions. He indicated that the soldiers’ mission would be to guard against copycat attacks inspired by the three assaults.

A forensics team collected evidence at the police station in 
Joué-lès-Tours after a man attacked three officers there 
on Saturday. Credit Guillaume Souvant/Agence France-Presse
 — Getty Images

“Vigilance, calm, determination. These are the key points,” Valls said, speaking after successive attacks in the central town of Joué-lès-Tours on Saturday, in Dijon on Sunday, and in Nantes on Monday.

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