Nice attack: policewoman overseeing cameras denounces "state scandal" ten years on
Sandra Bertin, who supervised the cameras on 14 July 2016, continues to denounce the failings of the security system. She has just been acquitted of defamation.
Nice attack: policewoman overseeing cameras denounces "state scandal" ten years on
Ten years after the attack on 14 July 2016 in Nice, Sandra Bertin maintains her accusations against the state. The municipal police chief, who oversaw supervision of the CCTV cameras on the evening of the tragedy, continues to describe the security management as a "state scandal", according to franceinfo.
On 14 July 2016, a lorry had rammed into crowds on the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people and injuring more than 400. Sandra Bertin was stationed at the urban supervision centre, behind the control screens.
When questioned on Tuesday on ICI Azur, she claimed that no other attack on French territory had been handled in the same way. According to her account, the security system deployed that evening was far less substantial than the one put in place for the football Euro tournament, which had taken place a few weeks earlier. She recounts expressing her disagreement as soon as she discovered the security plan, being told no by the Paris authorities.
The official also denounces pressures exerted after the attack. She claims that officials asked her to alter her report on the number of police officers present on the scene. The day after the massacre, she says she received a requisition order to erase recordings from six cameras over a twenty-four-hour period, including those that had filmed the attack. She describes this request as "completely insane".
These revelations led to a defamation complaint filed by a police commissioner. In early July, the Nice magistrates' court acquitted her. The complainant now has ten days to lodge an appeal.
A judicial investigation remains open into the security conditions of the Promenade des Anglais. The magistrates are investigating charges of involuntary homicide and bodily harm, endangering others, and forgery of public documents.
Source: France Info