French prisons hit by wave of overnight attacks

Vehicles were set on fire in car parks outside several prisons across the country.

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On Monday night, vehicles were set alight outside several French prisons and one jail was hit by gunfire, in what Gérald Darmanin described as "terrorist attacks".

Seven prisons have been targeted, in Toulon, Aix-En-Provence, Marseille, Valence and Nîmes in southern France, and in Villepinte and Nanterre, near Paris.

Darmanin suggested the attacks which began on Sunday were a response to the government's crackdown on drug trafficking. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor's office has launched an investigation.

On Tuesday, Darmanin visited Toulon's La Farlede prison where gunmen opened fired on the prison gate with a Kalashnikov.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy75231z90o

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