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Strasbourg steps up security in wake of Nice terror attack

Xinhua, July 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The French city of Strasbourg said Friday it is to strengthen security following the deadly attack in Nice.

After a truck drove into a crowd in the French Riviera city, killing more than 80 people, Strasbourg's mayor Roland Ries said vigilance and other security measures would be stepped up as Strasbourg is home to a number of European institutions, as well as being a major tourist destination.

Sitting on the border with Germany in northeast France, Strasbourg houses the European Parliament building, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.

In a statement issued Friday morning, Ries asked for security at the city's annual Summer Festival to be "substantially reinforced". The festival includes a nightly sound and light show illuminating Strasbourg's gothic cathedral.

The resources available for extra security are not yet known. However, the French government has already announced further security measures including an extension of the state of emergency for a further three months.

"French and European flags on municipal buildings in Strasbourg will be flown at half-mast, while other expressions of mourning will be also organized," Ries said in the statement.

Meanwhile, Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, expressed solidarity with France. "On the day (July 14) when the French nation and the world resonate to the motto of the Republic, where 'liberty, equality and fraternity' beat in the hearts of democrats, France, our host country, has been hit by cowardly assassins," he said.

On Monday, Roland Ries had unveiled a plan to fight radicalization among local youth just as seven young men known collectively as the "Strasbourg Connection", and who had spent time in Syria, and were handed long prison sentences by a Criminal Court in Paris.

According to French press reports in January, the European Parliament in Strasbourg has been identified by French intelligence services as a potential target for a terrorist attack. Enditem