Paris investigates hoax alert prompting major police action
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Paris prosecutor's office is investigating a hoax hostage alert that prompted a major police intervention at a church in the center of the French capital.
Police dispatched a helicopter and barricaded the area around the Saint-Leu church in the Les Halles neighborhood Saturday, and activated a special app-based public alert system created after deadly attacks in Paris last year. The Interior Ministry later said it was a false alarm.
The prosecutor's office said Monday that an investigation is under way, and the perpetrators are still at large.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Obs magazine reported that it had reached two people who boasted online of staging the hoax in a case of so-called "swatting," when hoaxers make anonymous threats to trigger a response from police and SWAT teams.