PARIS — A few weeks before the start of the Cannes Film Festival, French authorities have simulated a bloody attack on the showbiz gala, one of several such exercises in the wake of the March 22 attacks in Brussels.
French television station BFMTV showed four masked figures with automatic-style weapons storming the city’s famous Film Festival Palace, firing blanks before striding up the stairs.
The images showed a dozen prone people in police uniforms and red jerseys — playing victims — strewn across the area, with Cannes’ Palme d’Or logo in the foreground.
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Mayor David Lisnard told BFMTV on Thursday he wanted to boost preparedness and risk management. He said: “To be efficient, like anything in life, you need to practice.”
Another similar simulation took place in the French city of Lille.