E-Paper
Valls warns against ‘Trumpisation’
NICE: Resisting calls for strong measures in the wake of the Bastille Day attack, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned the country against what he called the
NICE: Resisting calls for strong measures in the wake of the Bastille Day attack, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned the country against what he called the “Trumpisation” of the mind, while the police arrested two more people on Sunday.
The estranged wife of the attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was released after 48 hours of questioning, but official sources said a man and a woman linked to him were arrested on Sunday, taking the total of those held to six.
Hundreds of Nice residents, people from the region and tourists continued to mourn at the Promenade des Anglais, at two venues near the site of the truck attack that left 84 dead and many more battling for life in local hospitals, including children.
Valls regretted the increasing calls for escalating the security narrative, and said: “I see, too, in the escalation of the proposals, to climb the temptation to put into question the rule of law. The authority is for me an essential value, but to question the rule of law, would undermine our values and would be the greatest renunciation”.
Referring to United States presidential candidate Donald Trump’s controversial plan to ban the entry of Muslims in his country, Valls said: “The response to the Islamic State cannot be the ‘Trumpisation’ of minds”.
Terrorism, he said, was “part of our daily life for a long time”, and rejected calls for undermining of the rule of law in the name of fighting terrorism.
Making an emotional statement on Sunday, Nice mayor Philippe Pradal said: “Do not be afraid…At this moment ...I can think only of the dead and the wounded, innocent victims of incredible savagery”.
“Nice, a city open to the Mediterranean and to the world, welcoming in all respects... how will she overcome the outrage?”
Investigators continued to comb through the attacker’s mobile phone and other details, while officials in Paris invited people to join the country’s reserve forces to deal with the threat of terrorism.
