hellomoe

My husband and I are staying in Le Marais for the next 2.5 months and have noticed that there are always police with enormous (automatic) guns. Anyone know why? We're not used to seeing big guns in public, especially on the street we live! A few buildings down, there's always an armed guard standing in front of a Kosher pizza place. I'm assuming it's just high security due to immigration and the alert since Charlie Hebdo, but just wondering if anyone else knows what's up. Just curious.

Thanks!

FrenchMystiqueTours

I have seen this in every major European city I visited even back in the 1990's. It's not an uncommon site and is standard anti-terrorist procedure.

Robert2533

Get used to it! They are there to protect you.

hellomoe

Thanks, FrenchMystique. I've never noticed this on any trips in the past, but probably just because the trips were short and I wasn't noticing everything around, plus the crowds. It's quite interesting walking out of our building and seeing that sight right there in front of our eyes!

hellomoe

Robert2533, yes... I intend to. Just curious as it's not a usual sight for me.

PalenQ

The Marais is a large Jewish quarter and thus probcably the enhanced security after recent anti-Semitic attacks in Paris - a bit unnerving but has been routine in Paris train stations for eons.

FrenchMystiqueTours

If you're from the U.S. then indeed this is an eye opener but you come to understand it's part of normal day to day life here and has been for a long time.

pariswat

Called 'vigipirate' plan.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Vigipirate

Came with a lot of other measures, like changing the wastebins with clearplastic bags in public places like trainstations in order to spot anything strange inside it.

The soldiers are usually quite nice and polite.

hellomoe

Yes, I noticed no one else seemed phased haha. Thanks!

nytraveler

Sorry - not an eye opener for the US. At least in this area all of the major transit centers (airports, train and bus stations) have obviously armed soldiers as well as plain clothes anti-terrorist police - as do any places with large crowds - baseball stadiums, etc. We also have severla blocks that have permanent police presence - those with consulates of UN embassies from specific countries - at lest 4 cops at all times.

Jus part of living in this era. (I do understand you won;t see that in suburbs or small towns - but the OP is now in the center of Paris.)

hellomoe

Thanks, pariswat! Super interesting!

hellomoe

nytraveler, never seen anything like this in the US... lots of police with handguns, yes, but not like this just hanging out in front of pizzerias, unless something has happened. Like I said, I'm not worried! It's just interesting.

manouche

This became routine in the Marais when Jo Goldenberg's store was bombed back in 1982. Due to the city's budget the soldiers come and go. They are all over town, not just the Marais. They protect VIPs of all nationalities, Muslim and Jewish schools and places of worship as well as patrolling the trainstations and now the big department stores due to the huge number of wealthy tourists carrying cash.
Some residents think this has been blown out of proportion and President Hollande is just trying to present a tough guy front. Many Parisian taxpayers do not agree that they should pay for this service without good reason.

Ackislander

I remember when our British friends would chide us about armed police in the US, considering a Smith and Wesson revolver and a Winchester 12 gauge pump to be heavy artillery.

Now police everywhere have H&K machine pistols, the police inside St Marco in Venice are armed with machine pistols, and soldiers in camo patrol Paris railway and some Metro stations as they have been since at least the mid-1990's.

I would expect security to be especially high in the Marais. After a long time, The French have recently arrested one of the people responsible for the murders in Finkelstayn's restaurant in the Rue des Rosiers, and expecting retribution and preparing for it is only prudent.

Christina

I've seen that in a lot in various places in Paris for many years, not just the Marais. Train stations etc, also.

kerouac

The terrorist alert level has been very high for years in Paris (and went up a notch in January), and that entails military patrols of three soldiers everywhere in the city and special protection of any "sensitive" address. In the Marais (but also places with even higher concentrations of such places, such as the 19th arrondissement), it means that there will also be police protection in front of every synagogue or Jewish school or any other Jewish institution in the city. You will see this in all of the major cities of France, but very rarely in less urban areas.

The weapons carried by the soldiers are often referred to as "machine guns" by tourists, but they are actually just automatic rifles. Machine guns are something that you put on a tripod and which have big belts of shells.

Ackislander

Sorry. It was of course Jo Goldenberg's. Got my delicious eateries confused, also the arrest situation.

After many years, one of the three killers was arrested in Jordan and is out on bail.

Another lives in Ramallah, the third in Norway.

I suppose they do not sleep well. Shin Bet has a long reach.

Bedar

I saw this in the early 60s in Paris. Like you, I was sort of shocked, but it's nothing to be concerned about.

FrenchMystiqueTours

<<Sorry - not an eye opener for the US.>>

It is quite an eye opener for the majority of Americans who do not live in or visit NYC or travel abroad.

almcd

In the USA in 2014, there were 543 shootings by police while in the UK there were none. Also in the USA, there were approximately 30000 murders. One wonders why a US citizen is worried when in Europe!