Wave of Prison Attacks Continues in France for Second Night

Authorities are investigating whether coordinated prison attacks stem from narco-gang activity or unrest linked to pro-prisoner activist groups.

A prison administration officer holds onto a security gate inside the prison center of Vendin-le-Vieil, in France on April 10, 2025. Photo by FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI/AFP via Getty Images

For the second night in a row, coordinated arson attacks have targeted French prisons.

Cars were set on fire at a prison in Tarascon early on April 16, French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin told C News TV.

At a press conference,  he also said sites Vendin-le-Vieil, located in northern France near Lens, and Condé-sur-Sarthe, in the Normandy region near Alençon—both high-security prisons—had been “threatened.”

French state-owned public broadcaster Francetvinfo stated that a fire was also reported in the block of flats of a prison officer in Seine-et-Marne.

Yesterday, Darmanin said that attacks had been carried out overnight on multiple prisons in the country, blaming drug traffickers for trying to “destabilise the state.”

While he did not say how many had been targeted, La Province reported on April 15 that at least seven sites across France had been attacked.

The letters “DDPF”—an acronym for “Défense des Droits des Prisonniers Français” (Defense of the Rights of French Prisoners) continue to be tagged on attack sites.

Francetvinfo also reported that the group DDPF—believed to be a far-left collective—claimed responsibility for the attacks.

“We are not terrorists; we are here to defend human rights inside prisons,” the group stated.

The Epoch Times has not been able to verify DDPF’s Telegram account.

Talking to French media Europe 1, Darmanin was asked why he believed that it was drug gangs, rather than the “ultra-left,” who were attacking prisons.

Darmanin said he was “not ruling anything out,” but when people “fire Kalashnikovs” at prisons, that’s more the “modus operandi of delinquents—young criminals who might be paid a few thousand euros to do that kind of thing.”

“Social media now creates these kinds of mimetic moments that are indeed aimed at testing key areas of the country, at pushing the state back, at making prison officers afraid, at getting them to possibly call for a strike, and at sparking debates about whether the Minister of Justice is going too far in his firmness,” he said.

“So, we’re not going to back down despite the threats.”

French prison union Syndicat Force Ouvrière Justice said in a statement on April 16 on social media platform X that an arson attack “targeted the block of flats of a prison guard in Meaux, with the inscription ‘DDPF’ found on the scene.”

It stated that it “strongly condemns this cowardly act” and offered its full support to its colleague.

“Our colleagues are not targets,” the union stated.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) stated on April 15 that it had taken charge of the probe into the attacks, which also targeted the National School of Prison Administration.

The PNAT stated that officers from France’s domestic intelligence agency DGSI would assist in the investigation.

“The nature of these facts, the targets chosen and the concerted character of an action committed on multiple points on the territory, as well as the objective to seriously disturb public order with intimidation ... leads, at this stage, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office to take charge to ensure, in this unprecedented context, national coordination of the probes involved,” PNAT said in a statement.

Last year, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned that the emergence of “narco-enclaves” posed a serious threat to the country.

A deadly shootout on Nov. 1, 2024, in the once-peaceful French town of Poitiers, historically known for its medieval churches, resulted in the death of a 15-year-old boy—who was shot in the head—and left the nation shocked.

The gunfight, which involved hundreds of people, was the latest in a wave of drug-related crimes that has transformed cities such as Poitiers, Rennes, and Marseille into battlegrounds, where even children are caught in the crossfire—shot, stabbed, and burned alive.

In Poitiers, Retailleau raised alarms about the rise of these “narco-enclaves,” comparing the situation to the growing control that drug cartels have in Mexico.

Retailleau said that the country faces two choices: “Either there is a general mobilization, or there is the Mexicanization of the country” or risk the formation of gang-controlled “enclaves, mini-states, narco-enclaves” in French territory.