(Local) After the deadly Christmas market terrorist attack, there have been claims that the eastern city of Strasbourg and the area around it houses more Islamist extremists than elsewhere in France. But is this really true?
Since the attacks, claims that the city and the Bas-Rhin department has more individuals known as “fiche S” — essentially a French watchlist of people who represent a potential threat to national security, often just referred to as a terror watchlist — than the national average have been all over the French media.
The claims seem to come from the mayor of the city Roland Ries.
“It’s true that we have statistically more ‘fichés S’ here in Strasbourg and in the Bas-Rhin department than the national average,” the mayor of Strasbourg Roland Ries told France Inter on Friday when discussing why Strasbourg was the target of the latest terror attack to hit France.
