Inside
the French police’s extremism hotline
FRANCE 24
was given rare access to a national telephone hotline for people wishing to
report someone they fear has become radicalised. In the 10 years since the
Paris attacks of November 13, 2015, which were claimed by the Islamic State
group, the police officers who run the hotline say they are seeing the
terrorism threat in France diversify beyond Islamist extremism while those
becoming radicalised are getting younger.
Issued
on: 12/11/2025 - 07:13
By:
Claire
PACCALIN
France's
Counter-terrorism Support Unit is increasingly receiving calls from parents who
fear their teenagers are falling into extremism.
Hidden in
the heart of the French interior ministry, a small team of police
"listeners" receive calls from parents, friends, teachers and
colleagues who are worried that someone they know might be a security risk.
"I'm entrusting you with a case that arrived this morning concerning a
young woman reported by her father," explains Nicolas*, who manages the
service, to a member of his team.
"She
converted two years ago, and is starting to make somewhat worrying
statements," he continues. "What worries the father is that she's
planning to leave France and get married soon, even though she's only 18 years
old. I'll let you call the father back to get more details."
The
hotline was in set up in April 2014, even before the 2015 attacks, as France
was seeing radicalised young people head to Syria and Iraq to join jihadist
groups, including the Islamic State group. Since its creation, the hotline has
received 108,000 calls.
Pascale*
was there from the start. It was not possible to photograph the police
officers' faces or provide their names, to protect their safety.
"In
2014, when there were all these departures to Syria, a mother called to report
her son, who wanted to leave," Pascale remembers. "The mother knew he
had an appointment at a mosque near Paris. She was three hours away and she was
calling us, distraught, because she wanted us to stop him from leaving."
This call
came before the government had introduced travel bans for individuals suspected
of planning to join extremist groups outside France. The bans, first introduced
in late 2014, are issued by the interior ministry and based on intelligence
assessments and suspicions, and do not require a criminal conviction or
charges.
"The
mother wanted us to do something, but we couldn’t do anything. She said 'I'm
taking the car, I'm going to get him from the mosque.' But obviously, she was
never able to stop him from leaving. He was an adult."
'All
types of radicalisation, including far-right extremism'
Pascale
went on to run the service for five years. In the weeks following the November
13 Paris attacks a decade ago, thousands of calls came in. Extra staff joined
the hotline and it remained open day and night for several weeks. Pascale is
now retired but she has chosen to come back, as a reserve officer, to continue
answering the calls. She says the work gives her a sense of meaning.
"When
the platform was created, it was solely focused on Islamist extremism. Today,
the scope of the work has been expanded to cover all types of radicalisation,
including far-right extremism. And we're receiving more and more reports
concerning survivalists, incel and also far-left extremism."
"What
they all share is an ideology that dehumanises others," she says.
Anyone
calling is assured anonymity and the individual they are reporting will not
know they have phoned in. FRANCE 24 was not allowed to record the calls but was
given access to specific cases, including one involving a young Frenchman who
became radicalised online by extreme far-right, pro-Putin ideologies.
His
family called the hotline after he left France and travelled to the Donbas, in
Ukraine, to join the Russian forces fighting there. The family was offered
counselling with a psychologist trained to deal with such cases, in which
parents often feel helpless or guilty for having been unable to prevent their
child from becoming radicalised. When possible, they advise parents on how to
maintain a link with their child.
Proportion
of minors tripled
The
hotline is part of France’s Counter-terrorism Support Unit (Unité de concours
de la lutte anti-terroriste, or UCLAT). Carine Vialatte, who is in charge of
the unit, says they are increasingly receiving calls from parents who fear
their teenagers are falling into extremism.
"The
proportion of minors monitored for terrorist-related radicalisation has tripled
between 2020 and 2025," Vialatte says. "While this still represents a
relatively small share of all individuals under surveillance – thankfully – it
illustrates the rising scale of this phenomenon."
Another
development in recent years is that the radicalisation process is often
happening more quickly.
"We're
dealing with individuals who are sometimes unknown to the intelligence
services, who can radicalise quite rapidly, particularly through social media,
and who have a somewhat weaker grounding in the ideology, whatever it may
be."
'It's
about prevention'
Hotline
"listeners" like Pascale glean as much information as possible over
the phone. That information is then given to analysts, who search for extra
clues, before it is transferred to intelligence teams and regional authorities
who decide if the individual poses a real risk or not.
‘To
report is to protect’ reads the poster inside the French police’s extremism
prevention hotline.
"In
France, freedom of worship is a fundamental right," says Pascale. "So
it's not about taking every convert or every person who has an ideology that
the neighbours or family might not like."
"It’s
about prevention. From the moment there are some indicators, or a succession of
signals showing behaviour involving concealment, withdrawal, a change in
attitude, we take the information and pass it on," she explains.
"Often, family members worry they are betraying a relative. But if there’s
a suspicion of radicalisation, people need to phone in. Because only the work
carried out by a service, the intelligence service responsible for monitoring
the situation, will be able to confirm it or rule it out."
*Names
have been changed
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