Reporting that the candidates in the french president ial election are involved in a Television Debate tonight. How big an issue was security going to be anyway . M tonight. How big an issue was security going to be anyway . It was going to be a very big issues, one of the big issues of this election along with immigration in europe. Every time there has been an attack in paris over the last couple of yea rs, in paris over the last couple of years, that has come to the forefront of peoples minds. I have not been able to monitor that particular debate in the minutes after we had the first reports, i looked at the tv and saw the series of interviews continuing. But even then, even beforehand, one i was watching the candidates, one of them, Marine Le Pen, raised of her own accord the problem of terrorism. It is on the minds and they have to react quickly to this. We are hearing more detail again by the Reuters News Agency quoting a eyewitness saying a man got out of the car on the Champs Elysees and began shooting with a kalashnikov, and this is when Police Officers we re and this is when Police Officers were hit. The Interior Ministry also telling reuters the one officer has died and two have been injured. James ray maltz is our correspondence in paris, but while we have on the line, i am going to speak to a journalist well known to us speak to a journalist well known to us here on the Bbc News Channel who lives on the Champs Elysees. You lives on the Champs Elysees. You live very close to where this took place . I have not been hearing the shots but i have been seen lots of cops on my street. The street those of the Champs Elysees Ir One And A Half blocks away, as they would say in america. There were helicopters circulating above our head. That is a very strange feeling. However, you see people in the street, police, and there is a Hotel Opposite my windows, people are walking, they do not look like they are in a hurry and they are walking down the street. There is an element of calm because the Champs Elysees is very big. An area has been cordoned off and they say in the news you should avoid the area but, for those people in the area, they do not know what is going on. What is the advice that people will be given, then . We understand they will not evacuate buildings because that would put people at greater risk. On the Champs Elysees on any given day, you have over 100,000 people. So it is an practical, it would create more itibss an practical, it would create more mass panic than anything else. They have not closed off the stations either. I am reading through some of the line is dropping on the Reuters News Agency. We understand that one Police Officer was killed while in a car that had stopped at a red light, the attacker drove by. This is reuters quoting a member of the police union. We need to get a lot of these lines confirmed, of course, but a clearer picture is emerging. One Police Officer has died and two had been injured and the police saying that at least two attackers we re saying that at least two attackers were involved in this. Wejust saying that at least two attackers were involved in this. We just know that several have been hit. We do not know that one Police Officer had died. We also knew that the attackers had been taken back by the police. The police and france are armed routinely and especially on the Champs Elysees, you have got twice as many patrols as anywhere else because there is a perfect awareness that this is a very emblematic area, so there are much more police for reasons such as crowd movements. What has happened to the level at which Police Officers are an now in france habitually . Municipal police is not armed but the rest of the police are armed. We do not have incidents of police shooting. When they are attacked, they do shoot back and we do have those incidents. Some of the riots started with a policeman being attacked in answering back and they have been instances of cars with the numberof have been instances of cars with the number of usually young men forcing Police Checks and pursued being given, and the police using their weapons. And of course, we have got the debate tonight involving all 11 of the potential president ial candidates ahead of the vote at the weekend. This is bound to have a bearing on what they discussed. Weekend. This is bound to have a bearing on what they discussedlj actually bearing on what they discussed. actually have missed this because i started talking about this, so i missed the reaction. This is of course going to help the two candidates who have named islamic terrorism, assuming the attackers are islamic terrorists. This will help mostly Marine Le Pen and mostly francois philly on. Were looking at pictures of the Champs Elysees, huge number of police cars, vans, looking down the plaster like concord, fire engines, police are heavily armed. We will let you get back to looking at the debate where i understand they have been addressing this major Security Incident on the Champs Elysees in the last few minutes. I wa nt to elysees in the last few minutes. I want to speak now to another journalist who lives very close to the scene. What have you been seeing and hearing . As you mentioned, i live very close to the Champs Elysees and the incident happened half an hour ago. Helicopters are hovering above. The area has been cordoned off. The street around here at unusually quiet since the shooting happened. One of the attackers involved was actually brought down. One Police Officer was killed, the other injured. One thing we did not mention was that the corner of the road was hit by a numberof corner of the road was hit by a number of bullets. The police are swarming the area so people have been warned to stay indoors. Prior to this incident taking place, we had heard from an official of the re cord had heard from an official of the record who is privy to Security Information that restaurants should perhaps be avoided and the lead up to the election. There were fears that, in the lead up to the election, they might be targeted, so this was something they were expected. It wasjust meant by my colleague earlier, an area like the Champs Elysees would perhaps be more so Champs Elysees would perhaps be more so prepared than other areas because it is very much the heart of the touristic area in paris. It is a very difficult balance for them to strike, if there is a fear there could be a Security Risk in the run up to the president ial election but not wanting to scare people unnecessarily. Absolutely, these elections in particular, very important. It comes at a time when you have candidates like Marine Le Pen who are very populist, and it is something the french people are very much encouraged to participate in. This is a time where security is at an all time high, but then you have attacks taking place throughout the country, and france has become a target, but then again, it is unavoidable. It is impossible to strike a balance. This is something that, time and time again, we have said it is a matter of addressing the social issue that has been taking place over france in the uk, it is home bread and a matter of striking a balance and not addressing this as an islamist issue. We are waiting for the authorities in france to give us more details about who was involved, but the nature of this attackers. We must not get ahead of ourselves with this. There have been attacks and other places that have turned out not to beat terrorism, but how did people and authorities get the message at the people about what they should do . So far, the only information we are hearing is, they are telling people to stay away from this particular area. This is a very touristic area surrounded by one of the bigger hotels here. It is unusually quiet. All they are trying to do is get people to stay indoors bust up we are hearing from different sources that there were two attackers, others saying one. One attacker may have gone inside, but this has not been confirmed by any of the authorities. Because we have so many titbits of information, it is impossible to confirm any of it is impossible to confirm any of it at the moment, that is why they are urging people to stay indoors. Journalist in paris, close to where this incident happened, thank you very much indeed. Christian fraser is on the Champs Elysees now. You we re is on the Champs Elysees now. You were there when this incident started. Yes, we were. I will try to set the scene a little bit for you. We are looking down onto the plas delle i2. We are looking down onto the plas delle 12. You can see the traffic going around. Just beyond that, that is the Champs Elysees going down towards concours, most has been sealed off. Just above the metro station, that is where the coordinates. It understand that attack was further down the Champs Elysees than that. Where we were standing, we were about to broadcast at 8 50pm and we got scenes like this, police cars flying past us, one almost took at a pedestrian, and they were coming from all directions. It was clear the warning had gone out on police radios, ambulances were coming down here, and right now were watching the helicopter, which is making its way up helicopter, which is making its way up and down the Champs Elysees. And on the underground pass, we had armed Police Officers here, and we have had armed Police Officers at the end of each street. Ice but one of them who was veryjumpy indeed. There was a moment at about 8pm where the Work Clearing the Champs Elysees were rumours started flying, people were running in all directions. The initial response is to think it will be a terrorist incident, but we are waiting for it to be confirmed, how many people we re to be confirmed, how many people were involved and what the motive was. We just do not know. I did actually meet someone who came up to me with a mobile phone while they we re me with a mobile phone while they were broadcasting saying, you have got to watch this. I could not hit the shots on his phone but he was convinced shots were fired, and that would seem to be the case from what we are hearing from the french media outlets. The response we witnessed, standing 500 metres away, was pretty instantaneous and came from all directions, which tells you a little bit about how they are going to police the selection this coming weekend. Everyone is on the highest state of alert. The Champs Elysees is one of the biggest thoroughfares in france and is always a huge police presence. We were walking up here about an hour ago because we we re here about an hour ago because we were coming up to broadcast, the word armed police and, who knows . Maybe we passed some of the armed police came under attack, but the word the visible on the Champs Elysees earlier this evening, and they are prepared for events like this given the recent history in paris. These are the live pictures in the french capital where there has been a major Security Event on the Champs Elysees in the heart of the Champs Elysees in the heart of the city. Three Police Sources telling the Reuters News Agency that the shootings in paris couldve been an attempted Armed Robbery with motive unclear at the moment as are the sequence of events confusing. Coverage of this unfolding story continues here on bbc news. We have a developing story in paris where there has been a shooting on the Champs Elysees. This is from a French News Agency stating that one Police Officer has been killed and over the wounded by the shooting in the Champs Elysees, and we are told by the French Interior ministry that an attacker has been killed. Next i can show you live pictures coming into the bbc newsroom. You get an idea of the operation underway in the city. Lets bring in Christian Fraserfrom the bbc who is in paris. What have you heard
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.