Louvre to get anti-ramming barriers by year end: Minister

PARIS (AFP) — France’s culture minister said Friday anti-ramming devices would be set up around the Louvre by year’s end, after a high-profile heist at the famed museum reignited debate over its security.

The announcement comes after four thieves parked a truck with a moving lift under one of its windows during opening hours on Oct. 19, then used cutting gear to break into a first-floor gallery and steal jewelry worth an estimated $102 million.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati, speaking after reading an initial report on the museum’s security systems, said Friday that urgent measures were needed to address the situation.

“For more than 20 years, there has been a chronic underestimation of intrusion and theft risks” at the Louvre, Dati told broadcaster TF1. “We can’t continue like this.”

The report cited inadequate security equipment and “completely obsolete” intrusion-response protocols, she added.

Last week, the Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars said security cameras did not adequately cover the thieves’ point of entry, the only camera installed facing away from the balcony by which they entered.

Dati said the museum’s internal security systems worked on the day of the theft, but also warned of “major security flaws” outside the building.

To address some of the shortcomings, “anti-ramming” and “anti-intrusion” devices were to be installed “before the end of the year,” she said, without elaborating.

Des Cars said last week that the first of several “anti-ramming” barriers was being installed outside the museum.

French police have so far arrested seven people over the robbery, and two of them so far have been charged with theft and criminal conspiracy. But the stolen loot remains missing.

Among the missing pieces are an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.

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By Agence France-Presse