French gov't uses appropriate security staff on Nice attack night: police watchdog

Policing inquiry into security measures set to secure celebration of Bastille Day in Rivera city of Nice were appropriate when a man drove with his truck into revelers and killed 84 people, the General Inspectorate of National Police (IGPN) said Wednesday.

"For an event that was not exceptional and without knowledge of any particular threat, the overall police operation was not inadequate," Marie-France Moneger-Guyomarc'h, IGPN director said.

"Clearly the security operation was not designed for this type of attack, the novelty and intensity of which were beyond all expectations," she added.

She also confirmed that 64 national police and 42 municipal police were deployed for the event.

On July 14, a 31-year-old man drove his heavy truck into crowd at Bastille Day celebration in Nice. He killed 84 people and injured 300 others.

Critics asked how it had been possible for a truck driving at high speed could careen two km through a crowd before being stopped by police units in a context of high terror alert.

Christian Estrosi, president of the Rivera region and former mayor of Nice, pointed the finger at the Socialist Party, accusing it of completely failing in Nice.

"When the interior minister says there were enough police, it constitutes a blatant lie," he told TV news channel iTele. Endit