The Arena of Metz theater of an exercise “attack

“The scenario we played was that of an intrusion, within the Arena in Metz, by terrorists who opened fire on the participants in a competition”, explains Adélie Pommier, the chief of staff of the prefect of the Moselle. Once the decor has been set, a major rescue and law enforcement system goes into action, around and in the Arena.

Inside the security perimeter, nearly 80 police officers, including the RAID and the BRI, but also more than 70 firefighters in action, not to mention the emergency medical teams from the CHR Metz-Thionville. More than 300 people in total make up the system.

Outside the building, dozens of rescue workers are busy sorting, taking care of and transporting the many victims to the advanced medical post. “We are starting to have a certain culture on this kind of operation, through the exercises, but there are always pitfalls and things to improve, so any exercise is profitable”says Commander Frédéric Delfosse, deputy head of the business unit at the Moselle Departmental Fire and Rescue Service. “The interest and the success of this kind of maneuver is really to test inter-service coordination and the quality of communications between services, to always be in time for action”adds the commander.

The risk of attack is always permanent

Inside the Arena, the place of the simulated hostage-taking, the police teams are on the front line to neutralize the attackers. “Like any type of exercise, the principle is really to train, to have the reflexes and automatisms to be able to react as quickly as possible in this type of situation, which fortunately rarely happens but when it does, you have to to be prepared”says Jean Ollier, the deputy departmental director of public security for the Moselle.

“What was important today was to train with various security forces, in particular with the RAID colleagues who will necessarily intervene with us to strengthen us. So the goal is to test in reality, the individual intervention capacities and reactive capacities”, continues the deputy departmental director of public security, “generally satisfied” the intervention of the teams under his command.

This kind of life-size exercise is organized regularly, indicates the prefecture. “The risk of an attack is always permanent. Our role is to anticipate. This is why there is no relaxation of vigilance. We continue to anticipate these risks, to prepare for them. , to practice it”says Adélie Pommier, the chief of staff of the prefect of the Moselle.