France is terror target as police cut to bone, presidential hopeful Alain Juppe says
FRANCE is exposed to terrorists as police cuts have seen patrolling officers plummet by 10,000 troops.
Right-wing presidential candidate Alain Juppé believes France is 'exposed to terrorists'
Right-wing presidential candidate Alain Juppé laid the blame squarely on former hardline president Nicolas Sarkozy as he made a swipe for votes for this year’s presidential election campaign.
As he laid into the “huge mistakes” Sarkozy had made, Mr Juppé also called for the closure of all radical mosques and incarceration of hate preachers.
Mr Juppé – who is poised to win the two-round right-wing primaries, which will be held in less than two weeks – told the French TV station France 3 that a “weakened” France had been singled out by ISIS as a key terror target.
Mr Juppé also called for the closure of all radical mosques and incarceration of hate preachers
French politician Alain Juppé sets sights on presidency
He said: “The number of police officers patrolling the streets went down by 10,000 troops, leaving France exposed to terrorism.
We are not at war with Islam, we are waging a war against Islamic fundamentalism
He said current government officials had to “raise their game” in order to win the war on terror.
He said: “ISIS has declared war on France, and it will be a long and difficult fight. We need to boost security and recruit and deploy more police agents – more counter-terror and intelligence officials – to keep track of suspected terrorists’ comings and goings and quash the terror group for good.”
Mr Juppé laid the blame squarely on former hardline president Nicolas Sarkozy
France’s prisons had become a “breeding ground for radical Islamists”, he said, and police officers were needed to patrol jails.
He believed that Islam was compatible with French values but said French Muslims had to step forward and “pledge allegiance to the republic” as a show of support, and to prove that they “do not” endorse ISIS’s radical values.
Police cuts have seen patrolling officers plummet by 10,000 troops
He said: “We are not at war with Islam, we are waging a war against Islamic fundamentalism. We must close all radical mosques and get rid of imams who preach hate.”
Mr Juppé also said the terror threat remained at a high level throughout the country, and that he was therefore in favour of extending the state of emergency “for as long as necessary”.