Louvre guard recounts ‘cinema-style’ robbery: ‘I saw them cutting the glass’

“I hid near an emergency exit. I saw them cutting the glass,” said one of the guards who was in the Apollon Gallery, amongst other things, about the cinema-style robbery at the Louvre.

Four days after the “robbery of the century” that took place on Sunday, October 19th, one of the guards who was present during the robbery gave his testimony to BFMTV.

The guard responded to the criticism directed at him and his colleagues, who were accused of inaction. “We are reception staff, not police officers. Our priority is the safety of people and objects,” he stressed.

At 9:30 am, when the robbery occurred, the Apollon Gallery usually has between 10 and 50 visitors. The guard stated that their protection had to be ensured first.

“I hid near an emergency exit to observe the scene and relay information to the police. I saw them cutting the glass,” he said. The guard mentioned that inside the room, “nothing could be heard, due to the noise from the cutting wheel.”

The robbers did not attempt to stop him from watching the scene. He said this “was not their priority. They were interested in the display cases. I don’t even know if they saw us.” Besides, he added, the robbery took place in a matter of minutes.

In any case, he would not have been able to hear what they were saying to each other, due to the noise of the cutting wheel. “I won’t tell you I wasn’t scared, but I didn’t truly feel fear, because they were determined and weren’t concerned with us at all,” he noted.

Support for employees
Following her initial thanks to the Louvre security personnel on Sunday, Rachida Dati, the Minister of Culture, reiterated her support for the employees on Tuesday, October 22nd, via the newspaper Le Parisien.

“I do not accept these targeted attacks and the shameful instrumentalisation of such a serious event,” she declared.

The Minister regretted “the false information circulating since Sunday, which questions the museum’s internal security systems and, consequently, the employees responsible for them.”

Dati reiterated that “all alarm systems were activated at every breach, from the window to the display cases. No system malfunctioned.”

President Emmanuel Macron requested on Wednesday, during the Council of Ministers, the “acceleration of the Louvre’s security measures.” He expects a list of proposals on his desk within the next week.

(information from in.gr)