‘France will stay on high alert after Denmark attacks’

Paris/Copenhagen: French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Monday the threat of militant attacks in the country remained "particularly high" and that exceptional security measures would stay in place as long as needed after attacks in Copenhagen.

France has deployed some 10,000 military personnel to protect public sites and announced thousands of new hires in  intelligence after 17 people were killed in a series of attacks by extremist gunmen in January.

"We will prolong these measures as long as necessary, as long as the threat remains so high," Valls told RTL radio, describing a security plan involving deployment of troops and police in public places and near sensitive sites.

Separately, a French prosecutor said five adolescents were arrested in conjunction with the desecration of 250 tombs in a Jewish cemetery near the northeastern city of Strasbourg on Thursday. An inquiry was opened on Sunday.

Meanwhile, two men were charged on Monday with helping the gunman who killed two people in weekend attacks in Copenhagen but have denied the allegations, one of their lawyers said.

"They are accused of getting rid of one of the firearms and giving him (the gunmen) a place to hide afterwards and they are denying that completely," the lawyer of one of the men, Michael Juul Eriksen, told AFP.

The two suspects, who appeared in court on Monday following their arrest on Sunday, cannot be named for legal reasons.

Police confirmed charges against the two men arrested on suspicion "of aiding and abetting the perpetrator" of the deadly shootings. 

Source http://www.timesofoman.com/News/47444/Article-‘France-will-stay-on-high-alert-after-Denmark-attacks’