Louvre evacuated after Paris bomb threat forces scared tourists to clear museum

The Louvre museum in Paris was evacuating all visitors and staff and closing early on Saturday after it received a written threat.

It said the move was linked to the government's decision to put France on high alert after a fatal school stabbing by a suspected extremist. The Louvre communication service said no one has been hurt and no incident has been reported. Paris police said verifications in the museum are under way.

Police officers cordoned off the area as tourists and other visitors streamed out of the museum. The French government raised the threat alert level and is deploying 7,000 troops to increase security after Friday's school attack.

The government is also concerned about fallout in France from the war between Israel and Hamas. The Louvre, home to masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa, welcomes between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors per day.

Police officers stand guard outside the Louvre Museum (AP)

It comes after a teacher was fatally stabbed and three other people wounded in a school attack by a former sutdent suspected of Islamic radicalisation. Some schoolchildren, parents and personnel returned to the Gambetta-Carnot school in the northern city of Arras as it reopened Saturday morning to reconnect and seek support, after the attack Friday that rattled France in a context of global tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

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Counterterrorism authorities are investigating the stabbing, and the suspected assailant and several others are in custody, prosecutors said. The suspect had been under recent surveillance by intelligence services for radicalization. Court documents viewed by The Associated Press show he is from the Ingushetia region in Russia's Caucasus Mountains, which neighbors Chechnya. Authorities had initially identified him as Chechen.

The French government heightened the national threat alert, and President Emmanuel Macron ordered up to 7,000 soldiers deployed by Monday night and until further notice to bolster security and vigilance around France, his office said. The "attack emergency" threat posture allows the government to temporarily mobilize the military to protect public places among other measures. The attacker's exact motive remains unclear, and he is reportedly refusing to speak to investigators.

At the school Saturday morning, police stood guard as adults and children arrived. Classes were canceled, but the school reopened for those who wanted to come together or seek support. One mother said she came with her 17-year-old daughter in a show of defiance against extremism, and to overcome the fear of returning to a site where children were locked down for hours after the stabbing.