France To Deploy 100,000 Troops Amid Christmas Threat

MEP: Nearly 100,000 troops and police officers are set to deploy across France’s streets to amid the increasing threat of a Paris-style attack during the festive season and New Year’s celebrations, the country’s newly-appointed interior minister has announced.

“For the end-of-year festivities, and especially Christmas weekend, there will be more than 91,000 members of the security forces deployed including members of the national police, national gendarmes and soldiers, as part of Operation Sentinel,” Bruno Le Roux said Friday.

The French interior minister added that there were currently more than 7,000 heavily armed ‘Sentinelle’ soldiers patrolling France’s streets.

The additional troops would be deployed to protect sensitive targets, such as airports, stations, Christmas markets, and places of worship, including churches and synagogues, he further added.

Speaking at a meeting with the security personnel at Gare de Lyon station in Paris, Le Roux said he wanted to visit the station as it “will see a huge rise in passengers today and tomorrow.”

More than 230 people have been killed in ISIS or Daesh attacks in less than two years.

In November 215, 130 people were killed in the Paris terror attacks, and 86 people died in Nice during this year’s July 14 Bastille Daycelebrations.