OF THE
TIMES
"We have foiled 32 plans for attacks on our soil" over three years, Macron said during a visit to the Pyrenees-Orientales area on France's border with Spain on Thursday.
The French president also called for an overhaul of the Schengen Area, the zone guaranteeing freedom of movement between โโ26 European countries, saying: "I am in favor of an in-depth re-foundation of Schengen to re-think its organization and beef up our common border security."
He said the increased controls would target illegal immigration, adding that he would put forward the first proposals on the project to the European Council in December.
The 15 are being held on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation. Seven of them have criminal convictions, Of those, four are for terrorism-related offences, Director General for Public Security Franz Ruf said.That is basically an admission they had been under close surveillance.
Of those four, two involved acts of violence like assault and two were for attempted so-called honour killings , Ruf said, adding: "One can see that all are to be linked to the radical Islamist milieu".
Switzerland has also arrested two men in connection with the attack, and Austria was in close contact with another unspecified country in its investigation, Nehammer said.
Separately, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told parliament there was a connection between the attack and people in Germany who are "monitored around the clock".
He told me that he had to cut his shift short tonight. He couldn't concentrate on what he was doing because the drums of the neo-nazis outside his window were so loud they were interrupting his workflow.