Three French airports, Palace of Versailles evacuated

The Palace of Versailles and three airports in cities across France have been evacuated for security reasons and temporarily closed, the latest in a spate of evacuations in the past five days around France.

The former royal chateau of Versailles apologised to visitors for forcing them to evacuate from the sumptuous 17th-century palace "for security reasons."

The tourist attraction said on X, formerly Twitter, that it reopened hours later after checks. It is the third time since the weekend that the palace had to evacuate visitors.

Meanwhile three airports in the cities of Lyon, Toulouse and Lille received emailed threats on Wednesday, police said, without elaborating on the nature of the threats. The airports all reopened to passengers and staff after security checks.

The evacuations are the latest in a series around France that included another popular tourist attraction, the Louvre Museum in Paris. They followed the killing of a teacher in the northern city of Arras on Friday by a suspected Islamist extremist. The threats have so far proved false.

Government spokesman Olivier Veran said the multiple security alerts and evacuations must not grip France with fear.

"This is what the terrorists are waiting for, to terrorise us ... We can be vigilant and I prefer to speak about a vigilant society," Veran said after a weekly cabinet meeting.

"Vigilance, yes. Fear, no," he added. "And even less so terror, and not psychosis."

Security alerts are evaluated on a case by case basis in co-ordination with the police, he added.

France has heightened its threat alert level, allowing authorities to add 7000 soldiers to the 3000 already in French streets.