France says will track down and arrest those trying to ‘destablise’ it with prison attacks

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By Juliette Jabkhiro and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that those behind an unprecedented wave of attacks against French prisons would be tracked down and punished after violence flared for a third night.

A car was set on fire in front of the home of a prison guard who works in Aix-Luynes, in southern France, the door of a building in the Seine-et-Marne region was damaged and three cars were set ablaze at Tarascon prison also in southern France, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said, adding that it was opening an investigation.

That adds to at least nine prison facilities and other affiliated institutions – including a school for prison staff – targeted the previous two nights.

“Some are trying to intimidate our prison workers and are attacking (prisons) with unacceptable violence. They will be found, sentenced and punished,” Macron said on X.

The government has pointed the finger at drug traffickers, but also said that was one among several options being probed.

“There are clearly people who try to destabilise the state by intimidating it,” Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNews TV and Europe 1 radio.

“We are taking very firm measures that are leading drug traffickers to react.”

Graffiti letters “DDPF” – apparently an acronym for “French prisoners’ rights” – were tagged on some of the attack sites, which some police sources said could be the work of unknown left-wing militant groups.

A Telegram group called DDPF, which was created the day before the start of the attacks, is being investigated by police for clues as to who could be behind the assaults, PNAT and Darmanin said.

Le Parisien newspaper said one man suspected of belonging to the group was arrested, but it was unclear what his role was in the attacks, if any. The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office and local prosecutor’s office did not immediately return requests for comment.

Years of record South American cocaine imports to Europe have transformed local drug markets, sparking a wave of violence. Despite record cocaine seizures in France, gangs are reaping windfalls as they expand from traditional power bases in cities such as Marseille into smaller towns unused to drug violence.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Dominique Vidalon, Juliette Jabkhiro; additional reporting by Makini Brice; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Sharon Singleton)