'Murderer!' Mourners boo French PM Manuel Valls over his failure to prevent terror attacks as thousands
French
Prime Minister Manuel Valls was booed and called a murderer by angry
crowds today as he visited Nice in the aftermath of the terror attacks
that claimed 84 lives.
As
Mr Valls made his way to the scene where Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel
mowed down scores watching fireworks on the promenade during the
Bastille Day celebrations on Thursday night, some of the crowd voiced
their anger over the French government's failure to protect its citizens
in the wake of the latest terror attack.
He
was jeered by large portions of the thousands of people who had turned
up to pay their respects in the coastal city, but Valls dismissed the
calls for him to resign as 'disgraceful', saying they reflected the
'attitude of a minority' in the city run by the opposition Republicans
party.
A sea of
people thronged the seafront promenade in Nice where the attack took
place for an emotional minute's silence. Similar ceremonies were held
across the country, accompanied by the ringing of church bells.
Valls
and his government has been criticised over the last 18 months for not
doing enough to stop terror attacks in the country, following the
Charlie Hebdo attacks in which 12 people were slaughtered last January
and the Paris massacre in November where terrorists killed 130 people,
including 89 inside the Bataclan theatre.
He was booed as he arrived and as he left the service.
Talking
last month the French Prime Minister insisted the country is doing all
it can to foil terror plots but admitted 'more innocents will lose their
lives'.
He
said the intelligence and police services had stopped 15 attacks since
2013 and were waging a non-stop battle to track down and prevent
terrorists.
Speaking
on French Inter radio, Mr Valls said before the Euros: 'We need to
tighten the net and give police and intelligence services all the means
they need, but we will witness further attacks. More innocents will lose
their lives.'
Paris
prosecutor Francois Molins said Monday that the truck attack that
killed 84 in the Riviera city of Nice was 'of a premeditated nature.'
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