-
Stena Line to end popular France-Ireland ferry crossing
Rival operators will continue to serve Cherbourg port as passenger numbers on route increase
-
Red heatwave alerts continue as storms sweep across France
South-west and Brittany are the only areas likely to avoid storms this evening after several temperature records were broken in the south yesterday
-
Air traffic controllers’ strike: Paris and south of France airports to face major disruption
Half of flights in Nice and Corsica, and a quarter in Paris are cancelled on July 3. Disruption is also expected on July 4 just before the French school holidays begin
France legalises weapons for personal security staff
Personal security guards are now permitted to carry weapons, according to a new law published in the Journal Officiel on December 31.

This new ruling has brought into national law - from January 1 2018 onwards - the previous public security act of March 1 2017, which proposed allowing security guards to carry weapons and police officers to increase their self-defence options, in a climate of perceived heightened terrorist threats.
The decree reads: “Protection officers will now be able to be armed when they ‘are providing protection for a person exposed to exceptional risks’.”
This can range from lethal weapons - such as guns - if life is perceived to be at risk, or in less-severe situations, non-lethal weapons, such as telescopic batons and tear gas aerosols.
This change in the law has been long-awaited in the world of private security, according to news source France Info.
Yet, the measure has received criticism from some sides, with human rights group La Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l'Homme (CNCDH) questioning the decision to give weapons to security staff whose “selection process, training and supervision is far from that required for police, gendarmerie, and other official law enforcement staff”.
The CNCDH also criticised the lack of “central chain of command” for security staff, and said that the move would “usher the banalisation of the presence of armed people in a public space”, and “change the social relationship with weapons”.
Stay informed:
Sign up to our free weekly e-newsletter
Subscribe to access all our online articles and receive our printed monthly newspaper The Connexion at your home. News analysis, features and practical help for English-speakers in France