Cars set on fire at French prison in second wave of attacks

In this file photo, a French police officer before the French President's visit at a police station in Bordeaux, western France, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)

French jails were hit by a new wave of attacks overnight, including several cars set alight at Tarascon prison in southern France, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday, as authorities sought to identify those responsible.

A car was also set on fire in front of the home of a prison guard who works in Aix-Luynes, in southern France, and the door of a building in the Seine-et-Marne region was also damaged, the anti-terrorism office said, adding that it was opening an investigation.

That adds to at least nine prison facilities and other affiliated institutions - including a school for prison staff - targeted the previous two nights.

“There are clearly people who try to destabilize the state by intimidating it,” Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNews TV and Europe 1 radio.

“We won’t back down,” he said. “If the state backs down, then there is nothing left, the French wouldn’t be protected anymore.”

Graffiti letters “DDPF” - apparently an acronym for “French prisoners’ rights” - were tagged on many of the attack sites, which some police sources said could be the work of unknown left-wing militant groups.

But Darmanin said attacks, which included shooting at prison doors with AK-47 automatic rifles, sounded more like organized crime.

“We are taking very firm measures that are leading drug traffickers to react,” he said.

“Some countries have given in to narcobanditism ... we’re not at this stage, because we are taking very firm measures, but we’re not that far.”

A security source said there was no evidence as yet of foreign interference.

Years of record South American cocaine imports to Europe have transformed local drug markets, sparking a wave of violence. Despite record cocaine seizures in France, gangs are reaping windfalls as they expand from traditional power bases in cities such as Marseille into smaller towns unused to drug violence.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Dominique Vidalon, Juliette Jabkhiro; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Sharon Singleton)