The city of Strasbourg has put significant resources into securing its Christmas market.
Visitors are searched at the entrance and the perimeter of the market is protected by anti-car-ramming devices.
400 gendarmes and CRS and 1000 security agents are mobilized.
Follow the full coverage
Germany: car-ramming attack at Magdeburg Christmas market
It has become a necessary step. To access the Strasbourg Christmas market, bag searches for pedestrians and cyclists are required. Controls have become stricter in recent years, as confirmed by Soulimane Bourhayel, director of the Valliance Sécurité group, interviewed by a TF1 team in the video at the top of this article. “Before, we only checked big bags, big suitcases. Today, we are trying to be able to check all types of bags a little more.”
These inspections are carried out at each entrance to the city center, between 11:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. As for vehicles, anti-car ramming devices are placed on each bridge. Entries are prohibited except for people living or working in the area. For them, crossing can only be done after having shown their credentials. “I must have a badge, proof of my parking space and an identity document”, explains a motorist.
400 law enforcement officers and 1000 security agents mobilized
Protected at its borders, the Christmas market is also protected within it. It's hard not to notice the police who constantly patrol the aisles with weapons in hand. A reassuring police presence. “It’s true that we feel safe despite everything,” slips a walker, who nevertheless concedes that “it's never enough“.
A passing German tourist, still marked by the attack the day before at the Magdeburg market, noted the difference with what is practiced on the other side of the Rhine in terms of security. “In Germany, police officers do not have automatic weapons. They are not in groups like here, but a little more scattered and less numerous than in France.”
-
Read also
Germany: what we know about the car-ramming attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market
This year, 400 CRS and gendarmes and 1000 security agents are mobilized to watch over the Strasbourg Christmas market. They are helped in their mission by some 450 video surveillance cameras in the Metropolis. An important system, which has been reinforced since the attack on the Christmas market in 2018. A place that remains unmissable in the Alsatian city despite the threats of attack, which last year welcomed more than 3 million visitors.
