‘Police are racing against the clock’ to recover the jewels stolen from the Louvre • FRANCE 24

‘Police are racing against the clock’ to recover the jewels stolen from the Louvre • FRANCE 24

The theft seen the robbers installing their own basket lift alongside of the world’s most visited museum, breaking the window in cases, and stealing eight priceless Napoleonic jewels. Let’s hear from the French justice minister, Gerard Daman. A large majority of French feel like they have been robbed. The same for when NRAAM was burning. It was our church which was burning. Even if you weren’t Catholic, stealing jewels from the Louv in such an extraordinary manner, it’s a bad look. It’s a negative image for France. What is certain is that we have failed since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image. And joining me now from the Lou is Cla Pelan. Cla, the museum is closed again this Monday. So, what is the latest in regards to the investigation? Well, police are racing against the clock. Police are in the museum at the moment carrying out their investigations. That’s why the Louvre is closed today. I was just speaking to an American lady who’d come all the way from Virginia with her father for this once-ina-lifetime trip to Paris. And they had hoped to come to the Lou today. And of course, they were not able to get in. The Lou is also always closed on a Tuesday. It’s open six days a week, but it’s closed on a Tuesday, so it won’t be open tomorrow. And we’re yet to hear from the museum staff as to whether it will open on Wednesday. What this American lady told me, Blair, she told me that it was very unfair and a huge shame. She felt that these thieves had not only stolen a piece of French history, but they had also pre deprived and prevented people like her from coming into the museum, visiting the Louvre, and enjoying the collections here. I also spoke to a young French lady outside the museum and she told me that this really was devastating for her and for French people because this was a piece of French history. We’re talking about Napoleonic jewels. We’re talking about royal and imperial jewels. Priceless. And there’s of course a great fear now and this is why the police are racing against the clock. Great fear that these jewels could be broken apart, taken apart and the diamonds and the jewels could be sold off separately. What are the next steps, Claire? Well, the next steps that police are working very hard to try to first find the thieves and then recover the jewels. Well, I just had a look around on the street. I’m outside because you can see the pyramid now, but just around the street, I went to the spot where the thieves actually had their vehicle, had that furniture lift, went up, and you can see the window which they smashed through has been boarded up now. And what people around me are just saying, this is like a film. This feels like an arson Lupang story. How on earth could this have happened? what we understand um hearing from the new the new French interior minister Lauren Nunees he did say he conceded that there clearly are some vulnerabilities when it comes to security at French museums and he’s now ordered police chiefs across the country to tighten security at museums and at other cultural institutions and we have heard of our journalist colleagues at AFP as well as France Sanfu they have been quoting a report by the cord so this is France’s auditing body a report which was due to be published next month pointing to persistent and considerable delays when it comes to bringing the Louvre up to scratch when it comes to technological installations. So some of the rooms inside the Louvre didn’t have security cameras. We have heard of course from the French president as well Emmanuel Macon who has said very clearly that everything is being done to try to catch these thieves and recover these precious jewels. Claire, the heist has certainly reignited a big discussion here in France about lack of security in museums in this country. Do French museums have a security problem? Well, in that report which is yet to be published which was due to be published next month by the cordono franchises auditing body that we understand of AFP and Franto French media have been getting partial access to that. Yes, clearly here at the the Louv Museum, there seems to have been major issues and what’s difficult for many French people here to understand and people can’t quite get their head around. So, this is the most visited museum in the world. There are tens of thousands of different items in this museum. How is it that some of the rooms appear to have not had security cameras? So, this is something that’s going to be looked into. And this is causing already public and political debate here in France. Why is it that this happened at the Louvre Museum? The last time a major robbery took place here was in 1998 when a painting by Kami Koro, so a 19th century painter, the painting Shumand Dev, so a painting of the countryside around France that was stolen in 1998. Also on a Sunday in broad daylight when the museum was open and full of visitors and that painting was never seen again. Cla Palan reporting there from the Lou. They

The Louvre remained closed Monday following a bold daylight heist in which thieves stole priceless Napoleonic jewels by scaling the museum’s facade and breaking in through a window. The theft, which occurred with visitors already inside, has prompted French authorities to reassess security at cultural sites nationwide. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin admitted to serious security failures, while police continue an intense investigation to track down the perpetrators, as FRANCE 24’s Claire Paccalin explains.
#Police #LouvreHeist #LouvreRobbery

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