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Troops to stay on French streets in post-Charlie Hebdo attacks terror alert

France is to keep 10,000 troops on its streets, maintaining a public military presence instituted after January’s Charlie Hebdo attacks. The country remains on high terror alert and is expected to remain so until the beginning of the summer.

Troops posted at the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Troops posted at the Eiffel Tower in Paris Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes
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Soldiers have been posted at religious sites, railway stations and media houses since armed Islamists killed 17 people at the satirical paper’s office and a kosher supermarket.

After a top-level security meeting on Wednesday, President François Hollande announced that they would stay at their posts as the danger of further attacks was still considered to be high.

The Vigipirate terror alert programme will remain at the same level until 10 April and is likely to be prolonged, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced last week.

Hollande earlier axed a plan to cut 7,500 military personnel.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday said that he would remain at the ministry till at least the end of 2015 because of the “exceptional situation” both domestically and internationally, with the French military taking part in a number of operations in Africa and the Middle East.
 

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