France to Form National Guard to Help Counter Terror Attacks

French President Francois Hollande announced on Thursday the creation of a National Guard which will be tasked with protecting the citizens from terror attacks.

The National Guard would be created from France’s existing reserve forces, Hollande said.Parliamentary consultations on the formation of the National Guard would take place in September "so that this force can be created as fast as possible to protect the French", Hoillande added..

The announcement comes after a series of recent terror attacks in France, including Tuesday’s killing of a priest in Normandy and the Nice truck attack, in which 84 people were killed.

Hollande announced after the Nice attack that thousands of reservists would be called up to boost the security forces suffering from fatigue after18 months of heightened alert and terror attacks. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Wednesday that 2,500 French citizens hadsaid they were interested and new inquiries were coming in.