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 beneath one among its home windows throughout opening hours on October 19, then used slicing gear to interrupt right into a first-floor gallery and steal jewelry price 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 have 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The report cited insufficient safety tools and “fully out of date” intrusion-response protocols, she added.
Final week, the Louvre’s director Laurence des Automobiles stated safety cameras didn’t adequately cowl the thieves’ level of entry, the one digital camera put in going through away from the balcony by which they entered.
Dati stated the museum’s inner safety programs labored on the day of the theft, but in addition warned of “main safety flaws” outdoors the constructing.
To deal with among the shortcomings, “anti-ramming” and “anti-intrusion” units have been to be put in “earlier than the top of the yr”, she stated, with out elaborating.
Des Automobiles stated final week that the primary of a number of “anti-ramming” obstacles was being put in outdoors the museum.
French police have thus far arrested seven individuals over the theft, and two of them, thus far, have been charged with theft and prison 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.
