A heated controversy has been ongoing since the attack that claimed 84 lives, involving the Les Républicains municipality of Christian Estrosi (first deputy mayor of the city and president of the metropolitan area) and the government over the security measures implemented on the night of the attack.
The Minister of the Interior, Bernard Cazeneuve, has tasked the General Inspectorate of the National Police with “a technical evaluation of the security and public order system” in place in Nice on the evening of July 14.
“This administrative investigation” by the police oversight agency “will establish the reality of this system, as unnecessary controversies continue,” stated Mr. Cazeneuve in a communiqué on Thursday, referring to a “transparency and truth approach.”
Furthermore, the newspaper Libération published an article on the security measures, stating that only one municipal police car was stationed at the entrance of the Promenade des Anglais at the time of the attack.
State representatives, Prefect Adolphe Colrat and Marcel Authier, departmental director of public security (DSPP), refuted this version of events during a press briefing.
In an indirect response to the former mayor of Nice (still at the forefront of managing municipal affairs), Prefect Adolphe Colrat asserted that “at no time did the authorities lie.”
The prefect claimed that it was a “visual checkpoint” with traffic diversion at the “Gambetta” level. He added that another checkpoint was planned further down. This visual checkpoint was manned until 9 PM by a national police vehicle, which was subsequently replaced by a municipal police vehicle. According to Prefect Adolphe Colrat, two national police vehicles were stationed further down at the intersection between Meyerbeer Street and the Promenade des Anglais as part of a security checkpoint. The officers assigned to this location were tasked with spotting and neutralizing individuals considered dangerous. According to the prefect: “The crews were tasked with ensuring control and safety of the event zone that began a few meters away.”
Six national police officers were assigned to this checkpoint, and “at the moment the truck passed the Meyerbeer checkpoint, indeed 3 of the 6 national police officers assigned to this point intervened by pursuing the truck and participating in its neutralization,” he added.
Two of the three officers at this checkpoint opened fire, according to Marcel Authier, departmental director of public security (DDSP).
The truck traveled 160 meters between the moment it passed the Meyerbeer checkpoint and when it was ultimately neutralized.
The DDSP also specified that the first victims were located 1,200 meters upstream from the Gambetta checkpoint, near Lenval Hospital.
