Franschhoek on terror alert for #Bastille Day
Bastille Day organisers beef up security after Nice atrocity.
|||Cape Town - Security has been drastically ramped up for the Franschhoek Bastille Day Festival this weekend, following a terror attack in France at a similar commemoration, in which at least 84 people died.
The Hawks are also on alert and said they were poised to strike if any information surfaced about potential terrorist activities in South Africa.
Late on Thursday a terrorist attack took place in Nice, France, with a gunman firing shots at a crowd watching fireworks as part of Bastille Day celebrations, after mowing down scores of people, including children, in a 2km rampage with a truck.
While no South Africans appear to have been killed or hurt, several were in the vicinity at the time.
On Friday, organisers of the Franschhoek Bastille Day Festival held an emergency meeting after learning of the Nice attack.
Event manager Darielle Robertson said: “Everything’s been increased and tightened… We’re definitely increasing police, law enforcement, traffic and fire services.”
The festival is held annually to commemorate the storming of the Bastille as the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789.
Thursday’s ill-fated celebrations in France were marking the same event.
On Friday Stellenbosch mayor Conrad Sidego told Weekend Argus he would ask the Franschhoek Bastille Festival organisers if they would consider having a minute’s silence for those who died in France.
”The French brought their cuisine and wine to this area,” he said, describing Franschhoek as the place in South Africa with the strongest links with France.
The attack in Nice, condemned around the world, came barely a week after an unconnected alleged terror plot was foiled on South African soil.
Last Saturday four suspects were arrested in Gauteng on terror-related charges. Two of the four suspects, brothers Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie, 24, allegedly planned to set off explosives at Jewish institutions or a US embassy in the country.
Weekend Argus