London may be convulsed by controversy over police clampdowns on terror suspects, but Charles Bremner, The Times's Paris correspondent, says that the French police take a tougher line without the same public soul-searching

"There is a big difference between the French and British policy and approach to terrorism. The DST, the equivalent to MI5 as well as the police intelligence, keep a very close watch on the housing estates where the majority of the Muslim population live.

"Until last summer the French were very unhappy with what they saw was incompetence by the British. The French thought the British were far too lax towards radical Muslim activities on their territory. Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri was followed by the French investigation service without telling the British because they were so worried by his activities.

"The shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and the apology by police to the brothers wrongly arrested in a raid on their home in East London, in which one of them was shot, will only serve to reinforce the dim view of the British police that the French authorities have.

"Among the French public there is not the same level of popular concern over terrorism in France as there is in Britain. House raids happen very often and do not get the same media coverage that is heaped on them in the UK.

"The case today of 25 Islamic terrorists who have been jailed for planning to attack Paris is considered to be old news. It relates to events which happened in 2002 and has created relatively fuss. Since then there have been countless investigations resulting in the arrests of dozens of suspects.

"This court case that goes back some time and is linked to Algeria-based terrorists, known as GIA, who did carry out attacks in the mid-90s. In this case the defendants were working with the jihadists from al-Qaeda.

"The Paris network, of which the defendants jailed today were part, was created to form a support network for Islamic militants in the war-ravaged Russian republic of Chechnya.

"The threat from the Chechan connection has been known in France for some time, predominantly from warnings by one man, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the judge in charge of the French anti-terrorist operations, who has been very active over the last 15 years in advancing policy towards terrorism."

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