Gay Mayor of Paris May Be Al Quaeda Target
The gay mayor of Paris may be a target of Al Quaeda, reported PinkNews.co.uk (www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6536.html) today.
Bertrand Delanoë, the half-Tunisian politician who heads up a coalition of socialists, communists, and Greens and has been the mayor of Paris since 2001, was among others on a list of targets intercepted by the CIA.
Said the Tunis-born Delanoë on French television channel iTele, "I am calm."
Continued the mayor, who had previously been the target of a would-be assassin, "I have the information I need and I have complete confidence in the work of police headquarters vis-a-vis security problems in general, terrorism in particular and finally the protection of the mayor of Paris."
In 2002, while mingling with the crowd at a festival, Delanoë was the victim of a stabbing attack. The assailant, Azedine Berkane, reportedly spoke about a hatred of the Socialist party and gays after his arrest for the attack.
Punk News reported that a police spokesperson said the reported threat was not directly issued from Al Quaeda, but that security for the mayor was being enhanced all the same.
Delanoë, who is the first politically left mayor of Paris since the late 19th century, is running for his second seven-year term.
Among his other projects, Pink News reported, Delanoë’s artificial beach on the Seine river is a major attraction.
Beyond the March election for mayor, there is speculation that he may try for the French presidency in 2012.
Well before his election to the mayorship, Delanoë came out as gay during a television interview, the Pink News article said.
