PARIS: France’s tradition minister stated Friday (Oct 31) that anti-ramming units could be arrange across the Louvre by yr’s finish, after a high-profile heist on the famed museum reignited debate over its safety.
The announcement comes after 4 thieves parked a truck with a shifting carry below considered one of its home windows throughout opening hours on October 19, then used slicing gear to interrupt right into a first-floor gallery and steal jewelry value an estimated $102 million.
Tradition Minister Rachida Dati, talking after studying an preliminary report on the museum’s safety programs, stated Friday that pressing measures had been wanted to deal with the state of affairs.
“For greater than 20 years, there was a persistent underestimation of intrusion and theft dangers” on the Louvre, Dati instructed broadcaster TF1. “We will not proceed like this.”
The report cited insufficient safety tools and “utterly out of date” intrusion-response protocols, she added.
Final week, the Louvre’s director Laurence des Vehicles stated safety cameras didn’t adequately cowl the thieves’ level of entry, the one digital camera put in dealing with away from the balcony by which they entered.
Dati stated the museum’s inner safety programs labored on the day of the theft, but additionally warned of “main safety flaws” outdoors the constructing.
To handle a number of the shortcomings, “anti-ramming” and “anti-intrusion” units had been to be put in “earlier than the tip of the yr”, she stated, with out elaborating.
Des Vehicles stated final week that the primary of a number of “anti-ramming” obstacles was being put in outdoors the museum.
French police have to date arrested seven individuals over the theft, and two of them, to date, have been charged with theft and felony conspiracy. However the stolen loot stays lacking.
Among the many lacking items are an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his spouse, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem that after belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with practically 2,000 diamonds.
