France unveils new anti-radicalization plan

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Friday presented a new set of measures meant to stem the phenomenon of radicalization, the country's third such strategy in less than four years.

The new "national plan for the prevention of radicalization" focuses mainly on preventing and controlling the phenomenon in schools, in sports, and in prisons, among others, on the local and national levels.

It also includes measures to handle the return of French fighters from warzones such as Syria and Iraq.

"This is a plan of mobilization. It's a battle that the state alone can't fight," Philippe, surrounded by several government ministers, told a news conference in Lille, northern France, home to one of the prisons used for violent, sometimes radicalized, prisoners.

According to daily Le Figaro, nearly 20,000 individuals have been reported to police as possibly radicalized.

Of the nearly 70,000 prisoners in France, 512 are currently imprisoned for acts of terrorism. In addition, 1,139 prisoners have been identified as "radicalized," according to French broadcaster BFMTV.

France remains on high alert since the 2015 attacks and has been the target of several other deadly terror assaults in the last two years, despite a state of emergency that was extended several times and expired last November.