(VOVworld) - Security at the Cannes film festival will be intense as France is still facing the highest risk ever of attack, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday. He told reporters that, with 45,000 people expected to visit the event from May 11-22, French authorities have deployed 400 security agents and hundreds of police and special forces have also been made ready to intervene. A bomb disposal squad will be on duty throughout the festival. Guests will be asked to open their expensive handbags for inspection after climbing the red carpet into the main venue, the Palais des Festivals.

A member of the bomb disposal squad of the French gendarmerie went to work on April 21 during a mock attack exercise in front of the Palais des Festivals. (Photo: AFP)