A series of coordinated attacks has struck prisons across France, as unidentified assailants set fire to cars outside multiple facilities, left cryptic messages, and opened automatic gunfire at one prison.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau have recently pledged to intensify the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime.
Between Sunday night and early Monday, a prison warden’s car was set on fire in Seine-et-Marne outside Paris, while seven vehicles were torched in the parking lot of a prison staff training center in Agen, southwest France, according to police and prosecutors.
The majority of incidents occurred overnight Monday into Tuesday. These included several cases of car arson and an automatic gunfire attack on a prison near the southern city of Toulon.
The letters “DDPF” — believed to stand for “French prisoners’ rights” — were found scrawled at nearly all the scenes, except for the prison near Toulon, where a different acronym, “DDFM,” was discovered spray-painted on a gate riddled with bullet holes.
France’s national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office has taken over the investigation. So far, no group has claimed responsibility.
Darmanin visited the prison near Toulon on Tuesday and vowed that the government “will not give in.” Speaking to reporters outside the facility, he said, “Attempts are being made to intimidate penal institutions, ranging from the burning of vehicles to automatic gunfire.”
In a post on X, he linked the attacks to the government’s anti-narcotics campaign. “France is facing drug trafficking and is taking measures that will seriously disrupt criminal networks,” he said, promising a “firm” response.
Darmanin, a former interior minister, has spearheaded what he calls a “prison revolution” that includes transferring 200 of France’s 700 most dangerous drug traffickers into two top-security facilities. The initiative follows last year’s deadly escape of suspected drug kingpin Mohamed Amra, who killed two prison guards before being re-arrested in Romania and extradited back to France.
While investigators are exploring multiple lines of inquiry, one source close to the case said they are not ruling out the involvement of anarchists. However, Darmanin suggested that the methods used should be pointed to criminal networks.
“It looks awfully like what I knew when I was interior minister — people paid a couple of hundred or thousand euros on small contracts to intimidate,” he said.
A source told AFP the attacks appeared coordinated and “clearly linked to the anti-drug gang strategy” pursued by Darmanin.
Interior Minister Retailleau called for an urgent boost in “the protection of prison officers and establishments.”
On Monday night, several individuals armed with automatic rifles fired on the entrance of the Toulon-area prison. An AFP journalist at the scene reported that the gray gates were riddled with bullet holes and spray-painted with the acronym “DDFM.”
In Marseille, ten prison vehicles were tagged with “DDPF” overnight Monday, according to local official Martine Vassal.
In the Villepinte prison parking lot north of Paris, three vehicles — including two owned by prison staff — were set ablaze. A fuel canister was found on site, and CCTV footage captured two individuals setting the cars on fire.
Similar arson attacks were also reported in the southern cities of Aix and Valence.
“These criminal acts are a full-on attack on our institution, on the republic and the staff who serve the republic every day,” said the FO Justice union, calling for a “strong, clear response” from the government.
Wilfried Fonck, national secretary of the UFAP UNSA Justice union, told AFP the prison system lacks the staffing needed to secure facility perimeters around the clock.
