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coordinated attacks have set vehicles on fire in prison parking lots across the country
By Grégoire Biseau, Luc Leroux (Marseille (France) correspondent) and Thomas Saintourens
MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP It was an exceptional attack
not so much for the damage caused but rather for its unprecedented nature
and for the mysterious signature left behind
the full meaning of which remains as yet unknown to the police and intelligence services
mainly located in France's southeast but also some in the Paris region
an acronym was left graffitied on a surface: "DDPF," standing for "Droit des Prisonniers Français" ("Rights of French Prisoners")
although calm had returned nearly everywhere else
cars were set on fire at the Tarascon detention center
and the signature "DDPF" slogan was found graffitied in the stairwell of a prison supervisor's building in the eastern Paris region
where authorities also noted that a fire was started
"There are clearly people trying to destabilize the state by intimidating it
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Workers at prisons and detention centers in France were targeted again on Sunday night in the latest in a wave of violent incidents that have been going on across the country
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility but it is widely believed that drugs gangs are behind the attacks that Minister of Justice Gerald Darmanin called "intimidation against the Republic"
His comment backs up remarks last week from Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau that he was "certain "that the government was dealing with what he called "drugs-yobs"
"It's not they who have declared war on us
It's we who declared war on them with our new law on drugs trafficking," he went on to say
"They know we're going to be hitting their wallets."
The incidents have included gun attacks and the burning of cars outside prisons
standing for Droits des Prisonniers Francais
A group using that name was set up on the Telegram messaging service days before the current wave of attacks began
Radio France International reported government statistics showing the country's prisons were housing nearly 81,000 inmates in spaces designed for around 62,000 people
with many of them forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor
A strict new bill targeting the narcotics trade in France is going through the legislative process and is due to be voted on in the National Assembly at the end of the month
Darmanin said "they are doing it because we are taking measures against the permissiveness that has existed until now in jails" as part of what he called a "prison revolution"
France's President Emmanuel Macron has called the recent attacks "unacceptable violence" and warned that those behind them would be "found
Retailleau said France had been hit by a "white tsunami "as it was revealed that in the first 11 months of 2024
According to the European Union Drugs Agency
cocaine is the second most widely-used drug in Europe
with the number and size of seizures in the EU going up year after year
there were a reported 84,000 seizures across the EU
is the biggest entry point for cocaine smuggled from South America
The TimesTorrential rain was pounding a high-security prison near France’s Mediterranean port of Toulon when a white car screeched to a halt outside the main gate after midnight
black-clad man jumped out and opened fire with an assault rifle
Fifteen bullets slammed into the metal-reinforced walls of La Farlède prison
hitting the bullet-proof window of the guardhouse
Investigators believe that it and similar attacks on 11 other prisons across France in just three nights last week came in response to the government’s move to incarcerate drug lords separately from other prisoners
Damage caused by bullets on a wall and window
at La Farlède prison near ToulonMIGUEL MEDINA/GETTY IMAGESMIGUEL MEDINA/GETTY IMAGESModelled partly on Italy’s treatment of imprisoned mafia dons
French authorities have arrested 25 individuals in sweeping dawn raids across the country
following a series of violent attacks on prisons and the homes of correctional officers earlier this month
which took place Monday in cities including Paris
come amid growing concern over what officials describe as an escalating campaign of intimidation linked to organized crime and drug trafficking networks
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said the wave of violence—ranging from arson to gunfire—was “retaliation” by criminal gangs targeted in the government’s intensified crackdown on drug trafficking
“These are terrorist-style attacks on the institutions of the Republic,” Darmanin stated
Among the most brazen incidents was the April 15 assault on Toulon’s La Farlède prison
where attackers opened fire on the entrance with a Kalashnikov rifle
French anti-terror prosecutors are leading the investigation
several of Monday’s arrests were made inside prisons
targeting suspected ringleaders believed to have orchestrated the attacks from behind bars
Messages claiming responsibility for some of the violence have surfaced on the encrypted messaging app Telegram
allegedly posted by a group advocating for prisoner rights
President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to bring those responsible to justice
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau praised law enforcement’s swift action
commending their “professionalism and effectiveness” in responding to the attacks
France’s parliament is preparing to vote on a bill that would establish a specialized prosecutor’s office dedicated to combating organized crime and narcotics-related offenses
As the government pledges tougher measures
officials say the attacks mark a troubling escalation in criminal efforts to undermine the justice system—and reaffirmed their resolve to restore order
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A wave of coordinated attacks on prisons and correctional officers across France led to mass police raids and 25 arrests on Monday, reports BBC
French authorities launched a series of early morning raids in major cities including Paris
and Lyon after a string of violent incidents targeting both prisons and the homes of their staff
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin pointed to organized gangs lashing out in retaliation against a government crackdown on drug trafficking.
France's Minister of Justice, Gerald Darmanin (Photo: Getty Images)
Over five nights in April, attackers set vehicles ablaze and opened fire on prison facilities — incidents Darmanin called "terrorist attacks."
Among the hardest hit were prisons in Toulon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, Valence, Nîmes, and several near Paris.
The French government recorded at least 65 attacks on prisons or staff since April 13, according to Le Figaro.
In the most brazen assault, gunmen fired a Kalashnikov at the gates of Toulon's La Farlede prison.
A Telegram group claiming to defend prisoner rights has taken responsibility for some attacks, French media report.
Anti-terror prosecutors say 25 suspects have been detained so far, including several alleged ringleaders arrested inside prisons.
President Emmanuel Macron made a public promise that the attackers will be "found, tried and punished."
Justice Minister Darmanin responded to the arrests by reaffirming, "We remain committed to the law and to the Republic in our relentless fight against drug trafficking."
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau commended the investigators for their "great professionalism," which "made it possible to achieve results in a very short time."
With both ministers promising tougher action against drug crime, France's parliament is preparing to vote on legislation to empower a new special prosecutor's office in response to the wave of violence.
Anarchist slogans were found at some of the attack sites
Paris: Cars have been set on fire near several prisons in France while one was targeted with automatic gunfire, in possible retaliation against government anti-drug policies, justice ministry officials said on Tuesday.
In recent months Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau have vowed to intensify the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime.
“All this appeared to have been coordinated and is clearly linked to the anti-drug gang strategy” introduced by Darmanin, a source close to the matter told AFP after the incidents recorded overnight to Tuesday.
“The republic is face to face with drug trafficking, and is taking measures that will seriously disrupt criminal networks,” Darmanin himself said on X, promising a “firm and courageous” government response.
According to prison staff union FO Justice, “vehicles were torched, prison gates set on fire, and even targeted with heavy guns.”
Three vehicles, including two belonging to prison staff, were set on fire in the car park of the Villepinte prison north of Paris, a police source said. A fuel canister was found on site, and CCTV footage showed two individuals torching cars.
Cars parked outside three other prisons, one near Paris and two in southern France, were also set on fire, another police source said.
In a prison in Toulon, on France’s southern coast, 15 bullet impacts were found on the front gate following an attack with a “Kalashnikov-type” assault weapon, FO Justice said.
In a prison in nearby Aix, two vehicles were set on fire and the gate of the local ERIS prison surveillance unit was damaged, the union added.
Overnight Sunday to Monday, fires had already been set in the parking lots of a prison staff training centre and a prison near Paris, several sources said.
“These criminal acts are a full-on attack on our institution, on the republic and the staff who serve the republic every day,” FO Justice said, calling for a “strong, clear response by the government”.
Wilfried Fonck, national secretary for Ufap Unsa Justice, another union, told AFP that the prison system did not have enough staff to secure prison perimeters “24/7”.
Anarchist slogans were found at some of the attack sites, and police are keeping all lines of investigation open, a source close to the case said.
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The request follows a 'fraternal visit at the request of Rome,' in the Fréjus-Toulon diocese led by Bishop Dominique Rey
one of the most conservative of the French episcopate
By Cécile Chambraud
Bishop Dominique Rey at La Farlede near Toulon
BERTRAND LANGLOIS / AFP A bombshell has shaken the French ecclesiastical establishment
he had to postpone the ordinations of four priests and six deacons that had been planned for this year in his diocese
This highly unusual injunction from Rome is all the more surprising since it comes just days before the mass for the enthronement of the new clerics
which traditionally takes place around June 29
"We welcome this request with both sorrow and confidence
aware of the hardship it represents above all for those who were about to be ordained," the prelate wrote in a statement published on the diocese website
The bishop said the order from the Holy See came after a "fraternal visit" to the diocese in recent months
"at the request of Rome," by Jean-Marc Aveline
the metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of Marseille – which includes Fréjus-Toulon – who will be named cardinal by Pope Francis in August
The "fraternal visit" is a sort of inspection mission during which the various members of the diocese – laity as well as clerics – are questioned
Several departments of the Vatican administration formulated "questions [about] the restructuring of the seminary and the policy of welcoming people to the diocese." Bishop Rey also spoke with Cardinal Marc Ouellet
the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
Ordinations have been suspended "pending the outcome of these ongoing discussions" with the Vatican
You have 66.37% of this article left to read
Acquisition adds physics-based optical simulation software expertise to ANSYS' already extensive portfolio
OPTIS and LeddarTechThe Pittsburgh-based engineering software giant ANSYS is set to acquire OPTIS
the French developer of optics and photonics simulation
Established by founder Jacques Delacour back in 1989
OPTIS has since built up a portfolio of software products including packages covering laser propagation
“The acquisition of OPTIS will extend ANSYS' industry-leading multiphysics-based portfolio into the increasingly important area of optical simulation,” announced Nasdaq-listed ANSYS
adding that the deal should be completed in the second quarter of the year
having built up an impressive roster of customers including what ANSYS describes as a “who's who” of the automotive industry
One of the major motivations behind the acquisition appears to be the emergence of lidar as a critical technology for self-driving vehicles
ANSYS’ VP and general manager Eric Bantegnie said in a company release: “Like ANSYS
and together we'll deliver pervasive engineering simulation to a new set of companies while extending simulation to next-generation use cases like cameras and lidar development for autonomous vehicles.”
OPTIS has developed a photo-realistic virtual reality and closed-loop simulation platform
which is expected to help speed the development of autonomous vehicles
“Using this VR backbone – combined with other ANSYS solutions – automotive manufacturers can simulate the environment [that] driverless vehicles are navigating
weather and one-way streets,” stated the two companies
“Combining OPTIS' physics-based solutions for optical simulation with ANSYS' deep and broad portfolio will be a competitive advantage for our customers and the entire industry,” predicted Delacour
“The entire OPTIS family is looking forward to working closely with ANSYS and its impressive customer community around the world.”
Previous developments involving OPTIS have included improved designs of aircraft cockpits – based on the creation of a “pliot’s eye view” of the inside of a cabin produced using the firm’s “SPEOS” visual ergonomics software
And more recently the French firm teamed up with Canada-based automotive lidar firm LeddarTech
revealing details of their collaboration during January's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas
“This collaboration allows transportation companies to virtually test and integrate their next generation of lidar developed around the LeddarCore integrated circuit before its actual release,” the partners said
3:26:46 PM EDTFrance's Minister of Justice Gerald Darmanin (L) greets officials and prison administration officers as he arrives for a visit at the Toulon-La Farlede prison in La Farlede
(Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images)French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin has said that attacks have been carried out overnight on multiple prisons in the country
He did not say how many prisons were affected
“I am going to Toulon to support the officers concerned
The French Republic is facing up to the problem of drug trafficking and is taking measures that will massively disrupt the criminal networks,” he said
The Epoch Times has not been able to independently verify this claim
The publication also reported that cars belonging to staff living in social housing linked to Marseille’s prison administration were graffitied with the letters “DDPF”—an acronym that appears to be the signature of a group advocating for “droits des prisonniers français” (rights of French prisoners)
but this traumatic event has left deep psychological scars,” it said
Darmanin said that France was “facing up to the problem” of drug trafficking
1 in the once-peaceful French town of Poitiers
historically known for its medieval churches
resulted in the death of a 15-year-old boy
Retailleau raised alarms about the rise of these “narco-enclaves,” comparing the situation to the growing control drug cartels have in Mexico
Retailleau said that the country faces two choices: “Either there is a general mobilization
or there is the Mexicanization of the country,” or risk the formation of gang-controlled “enclaves
Infrared (IR) surveillance systems are used in satellites that survey the earth’s surface to carry out environmental analysis—for example
to monitor marine pollution or study the movement of tectonic plates to help predict earthquakes
But more recently these systems are also being used for terrestrial applications in border control and other areas of homeland security
Infrared camera sensors are also finding their way into automobiles to help drivers avoid serious accidents at night and in adverse weather conditions
For all these systems it is extremely important to have the best visibility—using as much light as possible but avoiding stray light in order to get good contrast and optimize detection
Stray-light simulation tools such as SPEOS or OptisWorks from OPTIS (La Farlède
France) can predict the imaging contrast of such IR surveillance systems by taking into account the physical parameters of lenses and sensors during the design to optimize system parameters and reduce costs
lens systems are based on materials like germanium (Ge) or zinc sulfide (ZnS)
The reflectivity of each material depends on its refractive index
For standard glass with a refractive index (n) around 1.5
the reflection on each glass/air interface is around 4%
meaning that 8% of the light hitting a lens is reflected
In the case of Ge or ZnS materials with a refractive index between 3 and 4
the reflection on each face can be as high as 20%
This reflection coefficient is calculated in the ray-tracing software SPEOS by applying the Fresnel formulas for optical polished surfaces.1 For visible optics
coatings can reduce the stray light from Fresnel reflection; however
these coatings are very costly in the case of IR optical systems
Reflected rays bounce to other lenses and can generate—in the worst case—a second focus on the image such that the signal is wiped out by these secondary
The third cause of stray light is the IR emission that occurs when the mechanical and optical elements are heated by the sun or the electronics of the system
CAD-integrated simulation software is a big help because the temperature of the elements can be calculated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation tools integrated within the software
Once the temperature distribution is known
it is easily converted by OPTIS software tools into an IR-emitting light source just by knowing the absorption coefficient and the temperature and applying the Max Planck and Stefan Boltzmann laws.2
To obtain simulation results with high precision
one needs to have high-quality inputs for the physical parameters of the elements that the simulation takes into account
This is even more true for nonsequential ray-tracing software like SPEOS or OptisWorks
Nonsequential ray tracing means that several interactions are included in the beam simulation
if the error on the absorption of the metal housing is 10%
a ray hitting this mechanical element just once also has an uncertainty of 10%
If this ray is hitting the same surface twice
the uncertainty is multiplied to an error of around 20%; in fact
the error rises exponentially with the number of interactions
OPTIS developed radio-goniometer hardware for the OMS4 that accurately evaluates the physical parameters of the elements used
A surface or material sample is illuminated by a high-quality laser beam and a photomultiplier tube (PMT) measures the stray light in all angular directions around the sample
a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) or a bidirectional scattering distribution function (BSDF) can be measured to describe the scattering effect of surfaces.3 The BRDF and BSDF files can be seen as value tables
which contain the optical answer of the surface or volumes in incoming light
The software user can drag and drop these descriptions to the selected CAD faces; the software automatically searches for the correct values from the table
When describing volume optical properties (VOPs)
the scattering is dependent on the impurity of the material causing the scatter on each volume particle
This scatter can be modeled and measured using a double Henyey-Greenstein equation.4
The OPTIS hardware/software combination can measure BRDF/BSDF to better than ±0.01° resolution with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the BRDF better than 107
it is possible to get a high-definition BSDF and
achieve a high level of precision in stray-light analysis
The core of the SPEOS and OptisWorks nonsequential stray-light analysis simulation software is the Light Expert (LXP) module containing the Light Path Finder (LPF) function
The process begins by modeling the entire IR sensing system—optical and mechanical parts as well as the sensor itself—using the software’s CAD tools
To model the surface and volume optical properties
a large library of standard data is available within the SPEOS software
If some special material has been used it can be qualified using the OMS4
it is necessary to model the scene by using a high-dynamic-range (HDR) environment wrapped around the optical system or an emitting bitmap
An HDR environment contains the luminance values of the ambience and is wrapped around the geometry
The high dynamic range is necessary to give a natural effect of the ambient light
which can be different for directional sources
it is best to simulate a laser source by using a surface emission that is lighting the lens system from a given direction in space
The sensor is modeled by measuring the energy striking each pixel in watts per square meter as a function of wavelength
It is also possible to calculate the SNR using the LXP function and a photometric calculator
OPTIS clients say that this SNR result typically matches exactly with measured stray-light data
This LXP function thus helps to reduce the number of real system prototypes in development
reducing development time and cost as it is always preferable to have multiple design changes at the start of the development process than at the end
The interface and the speed of the LXP simulation function enable users to test many system variants in a short timeframe
Stray-light analysis and simulation are not only helpful in the development of optics but also in areas such as general lighting and medical instrumentation
the optical lenses are simply replaced by reflector parts with their own surface-scattering description
And in medical applications such as laser skin treatments
the volume scattering parameters of the skin can be analyzed in order to develop beam-delivery systems that will not damage healthy cells adjacent to those being treated.5 Other medical applications of note include analysis of the scattering properties of the human eye that change upon aging and affect our night-vision capability
and analysis of the scattering profile of fluorescent markers whereby the different traveling times of the scattered photons through tissue can be used to obtain clearer images of cancerous tumor cells.6,7
“Effects of straylight on visual acuity in pseudophakia,” Documenta Ophthalmologica
“Emerging applications of fluorescence spectroscopy in medical microbiology field,” J
Günther Hasna is chief technology officer at OPTIS, Zone d’Entreprises de La Farlède, 60 Rue Parmentier, 83210 La Farlède France; e-mail: [email protected]; www.optis-world.com.