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WORLD NEWS A9
Saturday 20 January 2018
French prison guards protest, 2 attacked by inmates
By ELAINE GANLEY Smoke rises as a fire set up by penitentiary staff outside the prison in Vendin le Vieil, northern attacks. He was charged
Associated Press Wednesday in a Manhat-
PARIS (AP) — Two prison France. Protesting French prison guards have pushed back against riot police and shouted down tan federal court with con-
guards were seriously in- spiring to kill Americans and
jured Friday by inmates on the justice minister amid demonstrations at several prisons over violent inmates and overcrowding. supporting terrorists.
the French Mediterranean The United States is ex-
island of Corsica, an attack (AP Photo/Michel Spingler) pected to ask France to
that threatened to further extradite him. In France,
ignite national protests by was used in the attack, he eral of the French prison three guards with a knife Ganczarski was given new
prison guards who are de- preliminary charges of at-
manding more security, said. The guards’ lives were system, whose job is to en- at a high-security prison in tempted murder following
more staff and safer han- the knife attack. He was
dling of violent inmates. not in danger but Belloubet sure inmates’ rights. northern France last week. also transferred to another
Justice Minister Nicole Bel- prison in northern France,
loubet immediately trav- said their mental and physi- She listed problems like Authorities say the attack according to Guillaume
eled to the Borgo prison in Pottier, a prison union lead-
northern Corsica where the cal states were worrisome. prison overcrowding, too at Vendin-le-Vieil was car- er.
attack took place. Justice The Prison Administration
Ministry officials, mean- The attack was the latest few guards and the “dif- ried out by Christian Ganc- official said attacks against
while, were meeting Friday guards by inmates are not
evening with union repre- by inmates on guards at ficult and complex man- zarski, a German who con- uncommon, with 4,000 last
sentatives after the Work- year. He insisted that the re-
ers’ Force union, which prisons across France. In agement” of prisoners who verted to Islam and was cent attacks this week are
is leading the protests, not linked to the guards’
called on guards around four of five prison attacks have been radicalized. sentenced to 18 years in protests, in which guards
the country to “put down have pushed back against
their keys,” or walk off the by inmates in just over a Speaking on BFM TV, Ha- prison for his involvement riot police and shouted
job, in the days ahead. down the justice minister.
Guards at 11 French pris- week, at least one of the zan said there are currently in a 2002 attack on a syna- In response to the protests,
ons reportedly already President Emmanuel Ma-
walked off the job on Fri- inmates was radicalized or 70,000 prisoners for 60,000 gogue in Tunisia that left 21 cron on Monday ordered
day, Emmanuel Baudin, the government to come
head of the prisons arm of suspected of being so. prison places. people dead. up with a “global peniten-
the Workers Force Union, tiary plan” by the end of
told BFM TV. Guards at “For several years ... there The national protest by pris- Ganczarski, 51, is also sus- February that would mod-
80 of France’s 188 prisons ernize French facilities and
were taking part on Friday are all the ingredients so on guards was launched pected by the United prison intelligence-gather-
in blockages — ranging ing. He also suggested a
from work slowdowns to that a crisis this important after an Islamic radical States of providing criti- “massive” shift to alterna-
protests, according to a tive punishment such as
Penitentiary Administration explodes,” said Adeline inmate wanted by the cal support to Osama bin obligatory public service or
official. He asked not to be electronic bracelets. q
identified because he was Hazan, the controller gen- United States attacked Laden before the Sept. 11
not authorized to speak
publicly. The two guards at Russian teen attacks schoolmates with ax, wounding 6
Borgo were hospitalized in
serious condition and four MOSCOW (AP) — Russian the ninth-grader entered a hospitalized and an official gion near the Russia-Mon-
inmates, including one officials say a teenager class during a lesson Friday probe has been launched. golia border.
suspected of being radi- armed with an ax has at- and attacked seventh- His motives weren’t imme- Two teenagers stabbed
calized, were arrested af- tacked fellow students at graders and their teacher. diately clear. children and their teach-
ter gendarmes moved in a school in southern Sibe- He ignited a firebomb in the The attack happened in er with knives Monday,
to secure the prison, the ria, wounding five children class and tried to kill himself Sosnovy Bor on the outskirts wounding 15 people, and
official said. At least one and a teacher. Russia’s In- before being apprehend- of Ulan-Ude, the regional then attempted to kill each
“sharp-pointed” weapon vestigative Committee said ed. The attacker has been capital of Buryatia, a re- other but were detained.q
