‘Threats of an assault’ prompted the evacuation of six French airports

Six airports in France were evacuated on Wednesday as a result of “threats of attack” received by email, a police source said AFP. This is the most recent in a string of such threats in recent days.

Authorities will be able to “clear up any doubts” that the threats may be serious thanks to the evacuations at the airports in Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse, and Beauvais, which are close to Paris, the source added.

The occurrences came after additional bomb threats in France following the assault on Israel by Hamas on October 7 and the death stabbing of a teacher on Friday in the northern city of Arras by a man claiming to be an Islamic State member.

Only evacuations due to bomb alerts were verified, according to a DGAC aviation authority official, at Lille, Lyon, Toulouse, and Beauvais. He was unable to quickly provide further information.

At Lille, Lyon, and Toulouse, there were considerable delays, according to the DGAC’s web monitor.

A security cordon was put up “following an abandoned baggage item… to allow the usual checks,” according to a tweet on the X (formerly Twitter) account of Nice airport.

“The situation has now returned to normal,” it said.

A similar statement was made by airport officials at Lyon’s Bron airport.

Three planes were diverted, according to an airport spokesperson in Lille, and security personnel were reportedly on the site, according to a post on the airport’s X account.

Social media was flooded with consternation from travelers, some of whom seemed to have no idea why they were being escorted out of airports.