226 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
226 lines
6.2 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
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worldnews
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europe
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1463175
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-----
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# Normandy village to be sealed off in 'anti-terror siege'
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By Kim Willsher in Normandy 12:01AM BST 30 May 2004
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The village of Arromanches will come under a new siege in the run-up to next
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weekend's international D-Day ceremony as, 60 years after the Allied invasion
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of France, it is sealed off once more.
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From midday on Saturday, the 563 villagers will be banned from their town
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square - where next day the Queen will attend a British ceremony - and they
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are under orders to evacuate the streets by 6am the following morning. As an
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unprecedented security operation on land, sea and air brings Normandy almost
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to a standstill, the clifftops closest to Arromanches will be out of bounds
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for five days.
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The French authorities fear that the international event, to be attended by
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Tony Blair and 17 heads of state including the Queen, President George W Bush
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and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, will be a focus for terrorists. In
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response, France has drawn up plans to throw a massive security net around the
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whole coastal area in one of the biggest peacetime operations it has ever
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mounted.
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Patrick Jardin, the mayor of Arromanches, said that the locals, who celebrate
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D-Day every year, fear that the event is being hijacked. "I've been telling
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everyone that if they want to see the 60th anniversary this year the best
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place to be will be in their living rooms with the television on," he said.
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"The sad thing for us here is that June 6 is almost more important than
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Bastille Day. Every year our British veterans come and every year we celebrate
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with them in a wonderful, intimate reunion. This year will be different.
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There'll be no party, no cocktails on the square. They've stolen our party."
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Patrick Lerebour, who runs a souvenir shop in Arromanches said: "It's a shame
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that it's all so official this year. The veterans have been forgotten. What's
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more, I'll have to shut the shop for the whole weekend."
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The security measures are expected to bring areas of Normandy to a virtual
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standstill. About 9,000 soldiers and 8,000 police and gendarmes will be on
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duty along the Normandy coastline along with a detachment of six patrols of
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special forces commandos offshore.
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A French minesweeper will trawl the Channel - where the French aircraft
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carrier the Charles-de-Gaulle and its American sister ship The USS Washington
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will join the commemorations - and an air-exclusion zone is to be enforced by
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Awacs surveillance aircraft.
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Helicopter gunships and fighter planes will be on standby, and batteries of
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surface-to-air missiles are already being installed along the 50 miles of
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beaches.
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About 5,000 former British servicemen are expected to make the trip back to
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Normandy but only 200 of them will be allowed to attend the international
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ceremony. All are required to carry official passes to move within the main
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security zone.
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Intelligence personnel fear that al-Qaeda terrorists could attack the events,
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but are also concerned that other terror groups might be unable to resist such
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a prominent occasion.
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A French intelligence expert said: "There hasn't been any specific threat but
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we're not taking any chances."
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be-sealed-off-in-anti-terror-siege.html
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## [Europe][6]
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