Armed cops BANNED from guarding French voters despite fatal Paris gun attack as nation heads to the polls in presidential election
SOLDIERS and armed cops will be banned from 67,000 French polling stations today.
The nation starts choosing a president but laws mean weapons cannot be carried near voting centres.
The rule applies despite Thursday’s Paris attack which saw a cop shot dead by a jihadi.
Up to 50,000 police and 7,000 soldiers will be on duty today but they can only be called in after an attack starts. Polling station chiefs will have a hotline to the nearest police patrol. Private security will be on site.
Police union leader Celine Berthon said the rules meant it would be “a dangerous day.”
France’s counter-terror unit has warned the threat to the front-runners is high. Two men with links to ISIS were held in Marseille last week after threatening to murder one candidate.
Cops fired tear gas at 200 anarchists who hijacked a left-wing rally in Paris last night.
- PARIS attack gunman Karim Cheurfi, 39, went to Algeria in February to marry while on licence from jail, officials revealed yesterday.
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BIG RACE FOR FREXIT
FRANCE heads to the polls today to choose a new President — and it’s a battle for Frexit.
Favourite Emmanuel Macron is against and called Brexit a crime. But Marine Le Pen, of the Far-Right National Front, plans an exit vote. She said of the UK: “It’s great what they’ve done. Their growth is double ours.”
Far-Left Jean-Luc Melenchon, also wants a Frexit poll and has accused the EU of threatening “vengeance” against the UK.
Here are the main candidates. The two with the most votes go head-to-head on May 7.
EMMANUEL MACRON
AN Independent candidate and the favourite to win the two-round election.
Calls Brexit a “crime” and says the UK will face “servitude”. Has urged the 27 EU countries to protect the single market and “rebuild the European dream”.
Has warned PM Theresa May not to expect any concessions. Odds: 4/6
MARINE LE PEN
VOWED to support UK in Brexit talks if she becomes president.
Says results of Brexit “formidable” and has accused EU of “blackmailing and threatening” Britain ahead of discussions. Odds: 7/2
FRANCOIS FILLON
THE Conservative candidate vows not to punish Britain in divorce talks and is seeking “serene” and “fast” separation.
Wants “good neighbourly relations” in future and deeper defence agreements. Odds 9/2
JEAN-LUC MELENCHON
THE leftie calls EU an “open-air jail” and has urged it to let UK leave “without punishment”.
Reckons Brexit is “the beginning of the end of an era” and “an earthquake for the EU as we know it”. Odds: 16/1