False bomb threats have increased this week. No less than six for the Palace of Versailles alone. Several educational establishments were affected, including the Gambetta high school in Arras where teacher Dominique Bernard was killed on Friday October 13.
Of course, there have been bomb threats in schools for a long time. Already in 1995 in Besançon, the colleague Saint-Joseph had to be evacuated because of a false alarm. It was September and during the summer France had experienced the tragedy of the attack on the RER Saint-Michel in Paris and other acts of barbarity by Algerian Islamists. For the principal of the school, it was better to take all precautions, even if it was undoubtedly a bad joke from a student. And this is how activities are often interrupted by false alarms.
This is not new either. The very first baseless bomb threats occurred in the 1860s, after the first attacks against the emperor and the start of the Italian Wars. I found a trace of it in Naples, then in 1870 in Paris, after an attempt foiled by the police.
The first false alarm that I found, really close to ours, took place on January 11, 1894, during the Vaillant trial. This anarchist had thrown a bomb into the chamber and killed a parliamentarian. However, when his trial begins, a metal box is discovered in the court. The head of the courthouse guard is notified. We alert the prefecture where there are explosives specialists. Eventually it turns out it was a can of canned sardine left there by a staff member. More fear than harm.
Alerts increase during the Algerian war
The real moment of development of false alarms as we define them dates back to the Algerian war, between the attacks of the FLN then those of the OAS. In 1961 and 1962 especially, they multiplied. Concern and hypervigilance explain why the mine clearance services are constantly disrupted. It is true that several attacks have caused victims in Algiers as in Paris.
All phases of terrorist attacks of which France has been the victim have triggered alerts. Attacks on planes began at the end of the 1960s. As early as 1969 at Orly, a flight to Tel Aviv was emptied because a false telephone alert had occurred. The theft resumes its course after a complete search.
Subsequently, as the telephone became even more accessible, records were reached. For the week of February 6, 1986 alone, after the attack at Les Halles, more than 80 false alarms were counted, including 50 for Paris, with the Montparnasse station evacuated, Beaubourg evacuated, the department stores evacuated and even a girls’ high school. We then speak of a psychosis, even if the public remains calm during the verification operations.
Between provocation and stupidity
The current alerts correspond to the same logic, between vigilance, psychosis and sometimes stupid prank. But there is also a touch of provocation sometimes, notably during tributes to the victims of terrorism, sometimes disturbed by Islamists who see in it the means of breaking the solemnity of the moment, of signifying the rejection of national unity, of scare inexpensively.
However, since the law on freedom of the press of 1881, these actions can be prosecuted by the prosecutor. Fake bomb threats are typically fake news. And the magistrates, again last September, sentenced a young man who had committed several crimes in Normandy to a 15-month suspended prison sentence.
Even the media are victims of such messages. The Maison de la Radio experienced a false alarm against the ORTF in 1970. It had to be evacuated. In fact, one or the other we have all had to experience these invasive false alerts.