French prison guards strike in protest over work conditions amid manhunt for prison-break gang
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00:00Here in France the manhunt continues for a group of gunmen who freed a convict linked to gang drug killings
00:06Two prison officers were killed and three wounded in a brazen attack on a prison van that was stopped at a toll booth at the
00:13time
00:13Now France has since deployed almost 500 members of security forces as part of a major operation to catch the gang all of whom
00:20Remained at large. Here's more from French Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti
00:25I
00:28Want to say that everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime
00:35These are people for whom life means nothing. They will be arrested. They will be judged
00:41They will be punished commensurate with the crime they have committed
00:47Several hundred prison guards meanwhile have gone on strike today for a so-called dead prison day
00:52They have turned out to protest what they call the dangers of their profession after the death of two of their colleagues in that
00:58attack
00:58Guards at prisons from Marseille to Normandy have gone on strike
01:02Well for more now, let's bring in our Yingo Ayatollah who's outside the Fleury-Merrigis prison, which is close to Paris. Yingo
01:09What's the situation where you are?
01:14And guards outside
01:16As a somber mood here, but also a charged-up mood with many of the prison guards as you say decrying
01:23the dangerous elements of the dangerous parts of their jobs here and
01:28We've spoken to some of the union heads here and they say that almost
01:33600 prison guards are on strike and as you can see they've set up barricades just behind me and
01:39They aren't letting any of the families here who have come to visit their loved ones who are being held at this prison
01:46They're not letting any of them inside. So it's a tense mood
01:49But also as I say as I said, it's a charged-up mood
01:52They say they're determined to make their voice heard after that tragic attack yesterday, right?
01:57And you know, they're not just protesting that attack and the violence but also just their own working conditions at the prison
02:06That's right
02:07As you said they are they are processing the dangerous elements of their job
02:12But also the poor working conditions here
02:14We've spoken to some of the prison guards here and they say that there is just a massive shortage of staff
02:20at times one prison guard can be dealing with almost
02:24200 inmates just at a time and you can imagine if anything goes wrong in those kind of situations
02:29It's the the prison guard is in a vulnerable
02:34Situation. So as you say, it's it's it's a dangerous job following what happened yesterday, but also
02:42It's complicated one with things like the shortages of staff but also overpopulation at
02:49Prisons like this one. This is the largest prison in Europe. Almost
02:544,100 inmates are held here. And yes, as I've mentioned it can be complicated at times with shortages of staff
03:02Yinka, thank you for that. Yinka Ohetadi, they're reporting for us from Fleury-Marangis, a prison near Paris