Burning of vehicles and firing of AK-47s in coordinated attacks on prisons in France

Several French prisons have been the target of coordinated attacks in recent days, with vehicles being burned and AK-47s fired, in what Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, called Wednesday an attempt at "destabilization."

Darmanin and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau have pledged in recent months to step up the fight against drugs and organized crime in the country.

According to the statements from the justice minister, "It is the first time in decades that France is taking extremely tough measures against drug trafficking, where the narco-traffickers are afraid and want the state to back down."

Likewise, Darmanin recalled that he seeks to put an end to the "drug trafficking networks that continue to operate from prisons." "They order assassinations, money laundering. They threaten police, judges, prison guards, and they escape," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also spoken out in the face of the acts: "Some people are trying to intimidate our prison staff and attack our establishments with unacceptable violence. They will be found out, tried and punished."

Terrorist attacks against prisons

The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office opened an investigation Tuesday to try to identify the perpetrators of these attacks, which began Sunday in prisons such as the one in Toulon, in southern France.

Also, three vehicles were set on fire early Wednesday in front of Tarascon prison, in a parking lot "isolated, reserved for staff, fenced off and with access secured by a numerical code," Laurent Gumbau, the city prosecutor, told AFP.

The vehicle of a guard working in a prison on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence, also in the south, was set on fire in front of his home, the representative of a prison workers' union reported in turn.

And in the Seine-et-Marne region, near Paris, the letters "DDPF," a French acronym for "French prisoners' rights," appeared at the entrance of a building where a female prison official lives, a police source said.

Special detention regiment for drug traffickers

Gérald Darmanin is heading a project that seeks to create a special detention regiment for drug traffickers. The aim of the plan is to keep them in strict isolation in high security facilities.

The announcement came after assailants attacked a van carrying alleged drug baron Mohamed Amra last year.

Two guards were killed in the attack, which occurred at a tollbooth, and Amra managed to escape. However, he was rearrested in Romania and extradited to France.