French police thwart attack during G7 summit
French authorities have arrested five people suspected of planning an attack on this weekend’s G7 summit in Biarritz. The meeting of world leaders has proved to be a magnet for left-wing protest movements.
The suspects, who included “black bloc” anti-capitalists, were arrested on Monday for posting messages online encouraging attacks on a hotel accommodating police gendarmes during the August 24-26 talks. Four were released a day later.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who will host global leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump for the three-day meeting, warned that security measures in Biarritz would be “unprecedented.”
The French resort will be transformed into a security fortress for the weekend. Trains will not serve the stations in Biarritz or the neighbouring resort towns, and its airport will be closed to scheduled flights.
Christophe Castaner, France’s interior minister, said on Tuesday he is deploying 13,200 police backed up by soldiers and drones to secure the event. Authorities have banned all demonstrations, not just in Biarritz but also the conjoined towns of Anglet and Bayonne.
Campaign groups and demonstrators will be allowed to congregate in the towns of Hendaye and Irun, which straddle the France-Spain border 30km away
