Police opened fire at the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand station in Paris on Tuesday, October 31. It came after a report of a woman advocating terrorism and threatening to blow herself up. This woman’s vital prognosis is in jeopardy.
An intervention and a police shot. This Tuesday, October 31, the presence of a woman uttering threats and advocating terrorism was reported in the RER C traveling towards the Paris region. If the individual was spotted for the first time at Villeneuve-le-Roi station, the police intervened at the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand station in Paris. The woman was isolated in the station evacuated of all its travelers.
The author of the threats “obviously dressed in a full veil” according to details from government spokesperson Olivier Véran, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and threatened to trigger an explosion. She refused to comply with the police officers’ orders and one of them, fearing for her safety and that of her colleagues, “made a single use of his firearm” said the Paris prosecutor’s office. The latter said he was informed of the arrest of the individual who “made death threats”. The woman was injured in the stomach, she was evacuated by firefighters and taken to hospital. His vital prognosis is engaged. “We will know more in the coming hours” about his state of health, Olivier Véran said during a press briefing at midday.
The woman behind the threats was spotted by several RER C passengers and was the subject of at least three separate alerts. Above all, his comments were described by the government spokesperson as “aggressive [and] with jihadist connotations”. The identity of the author of the threats is still being verified, said the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nunez at a press conference. But according to initial information reported by BFMTV, the woman would be 38 years old, known to the intelligence services but would not appear among the individuals on the S file.
This person has, however, “already been convicted” for having made threats against soldiers mobilized for the sentinel operation, the minister said. The psychological state of the author of the threats must be studied. The police chief also specified that this woman was arrested in 2021 while she was walking around with a screwdriver in her hand while making threatening remarks. She was then interned and monitored by radicalization prevention units.
Among the comments made by the woman neutralized by the police, certain threats warned of an explosive device. The woman allegedly “threatened to blow it up” according to the prosecution and to “blow up everything” according to independent journalist Clément Lanot. After checking the scene, no explosive objects were found.
Two investigations were opened following the police operation at the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand station. The first was entrusted to the Paris judicial police for apology, death threats and an act of intimidation against a holder of public authority. For the moment, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has not been contacted. The second investigation was carried out by the IGPN and was opened for the charge of “intentional violence with a weapon by a person holding public authority”. On this point, Olivier Véran assured that “the police were equipped with pedestrian cameras” whose images could help in the investigation, as well as in the video surveillance of the François Mitterrand Library station.
After the intervention of the police, a police force is still in place at the Bibliothèque-François-Mitterrand station. The latter is also “not served in both directions of traffic until 4:00 p.m.” warns the SNCF on the RER C Twitter page.
This terrorist threat occurs in a climate that is still under tension. If threats of this ilk and false bomb threats which have affected schools, airports and even the Palace of Versailles almost daily over the last two weeks seem to be fewer in number, the authorities continue to take all necessary measures in the face of risk of a terrorist attack.
France is still placed in “attack emergency”, the highest level of the Vigipirate plan, since October 13 and the terrorist attack which occurred in a high school in Arras. This fear of the terrorist threat also influenced certain decisions and the organization of the various events. On the eve of the incident at the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand station, the TF1 channel announced that the NRJ Music Awards ceremony scheduled for November 10 will not take place live. The awards ceremony and the show will be recorded live earlier in the day and then broadcast on screen the same evening, to avoid possible attack attempts targeting the event, indicates Le Parisien. TF1 is also considering a similar system for the new season of Star Academy which begins on November 4.
