Prisons across France hit by wave of ‘co-ordinated’ gun and arson attacks

At least six prisons in France were struck in a wave of “co-ordinated” attacks involving burning cars and gunfire.

French justice minister Gérald Darmanin said on Tuesday that attacks had been carried out overnight on several French prisons, and added he would travel to the southern city of Toulon, whose prison was among those attacked.

“Attempts have been made to intimidate staff in several prisons, ranging from burning vehicles to firing automatic weapons,” Darmanin said on X.

“I am going to Toulon to support the officers concerned,” he wrote.

The entrance to Toulon prison was targeted by gunmen in a car at around 1am, Le Parisien reported.

A prison door was hit seven times and several boxes of ammunition were left on the ground, the newspaper said. No one is believed to have been injured.

FO Justice, a union for prison guards, published a photo showing a bullet holes seemingly from one of the prisons.

As well as Toulon, five more prisons were hit, Le Parisien wrote, mostly in the south. It described the Toulon attack as “particularly violent.”

The others were in Aix-en-Provence, Valence, Nîmes, Villepinte and Nanterre.

Several prisons had cars set alight near them. Another image from FO Justice, which it said was from the car park of Valence’s prison, showed a group of three cars surrounded by flames and smoke.

Darmanin, the justice minister, stopped short of saying who was to blame for the attacks, but suggested organised crime and drug traffickers could be involved.

“The French Republic is facing up to the problem of drug trafficking and is taking measures that will massively disrupt the criminal networks,” he said.

This is a breaking news story and it is being updated