This Saturday, October 21 at 11:50 a.m., the Palace of Versailles and its grounds once again had to be evacuated by the police after a bomb threat, a police source reported to Le Figaro, specifying that 5,000 tourists were evacuated. Dogs specializing in mine clearance and explosive detection were dispatched to the site, adds the same source. This is the sixth alert in seven days.
On X (formerly Twitter), the establishment also warned its visitors, indicating that “for security reasons”, the Palace of Versailles had to be evacuated. It “will proceed with the reopening as soon as the checks have been carried out,” added management.
The Palace of Versailles had just announced its reopening 20 hours ago, after checks following yet another bomb threat.
This morning, the closure of the palace had to be announced after a message sent at 11:25 a.m. to the national police. The subject of the email? “I’m going to blow up everything at the Palace of Versailles.” The message itself stated in particular that “France is a country of unbelievers” and that “God is the greatest”.
“Today there is a completely logical effect of weariness, but the police do not take these alerts lightly, even if there are strong suspicions that this is still a matter of a false alarm. We have to take this seriously,” a local police source responded to Le Figaro.
A sixth bomb alert which, for this source, is explained by the fact that the Palace of Versailles “is a symbol”, but also because “a lot of tourists are present on the site, which complicates evacuations because there is always a risk of general panic.” While the high tourist season is coming to an end, according to AFP, between 10 and 15,000 visitors still visit the site on average during this time of year.
Since the knife attack by a radicalized Islamist against a professor in Arras last Friday October 13 and while France is placed in an “emergency attack” situation, these alerts are taken very seriously, whether in the educational establishments, places of culture or airports. Yesterday, the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti notably indicated that “22 investigations (were) underway” for cases of false bomb threats.
