France’s socialist government has moved to stem mounting political criticism and public anger over its handling of the fight against terrorism in the wake of the third mass-casualty attack to rock the country in 18 months.
Prime minister Manuel Valls was yesterday booed in Nice after attending a minute’s silence in tribute to the victims of last week’s atrocity in the city. Cries of “Valls resign” rang out from part of the crowd that was gathered to pay respect to those who died.
Earlier Bernard Cazeneuve, interior minister, hit out at criticism from Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s former president, and other senior opposition figures who said the government had failed to learn the lessons of previous Islamist terror assaults, including the massacre in Paris in November that killed 130. Speaking after a security council meeting, Mr Cazeneuve said the government had passed three laws to boost intelligence services in the past two years and created 9,000 police jobs to “tackle a threat France was not prepared for”.