What you need to know about the prison attacks in France

WorldPolitics
15 Apr 2025 • 6:33 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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  • Multiple French prisons were targeted in coordinated attacks involving gunfire and arson.
  • A prison in Toulon was fired upon with an automatic weapon, while vehicles were set ablaze in prison parking lots across several locations, including Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, Valence, Nîmes, Luynes, Villepinte, and Nanterre.
  • French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed the attacks, suggesting they were attempts to intimidate prison staff and linked to drug trafficking.
  • "DDPF," an acronym for "rights of French prisoners," was spray-painted near some of the targeted sites.
  • Prison unions reported burnt vehicles outside prisons in the days leading up to the attacks.

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