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The arrest in Paris is not the only incident. In Avignon, the police shot a man in the street. He would have threatened passers-by with a firearm, and called Allahu Akbar, so it sounds on the French news. According to other media, it is probably not an act of terrorism. The man, who was shot near a mental hospital, is said to have made “incoherent” comments, but they were not religious in nature.
In the center of Lyon, a young man was also arrested on Thursday who wanted to enter a tram with a long knife. According to local media, this is a 26-year-old man with psychiatric problems. It is said to be an Afghan who stated after his arrest that he had heard voices telling him to kill him. It was a 12-inch long knife.
Nice
Earlier in the day, a man of North African origin, according to the media, attacked people with a knife in the Notre-Dame basilica in Nice. It appears to be a terrorist attack. Three people were killed by the perpetrator and six were injured. The attacker has been shot by the police who are investigating murder as part of a terrorist attack.
Macron addresses the press from the street where the attack took place in Nice.
Ⓒ AFP
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It is the third time that Nice has had to deal with this violence. In February 2015, a criminal and jihadist attacked soldiers with a knife who were standing guard at a Jewish center near the basilica. On National Day (July 14) in 2014, nearly 90 people were killed when a 31-year-old Tunisian jihadist crashed into a crowd.
The motives of Thursday’s perpetrator, who shouted Allahu akbar after his arrest, is not yet certain. French President Macron has angered Muslim extremists with his response to the terrorist assassination earlier this month of a teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Sartrouville.
Birth of Mohammed
In parts of the Islamic world, the birth of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed is commemorated from Wednesday evening to Thursday evening. A French Muslim council has called for the celebrations to be canceled due to the violence. The birthday, Mawlid al-Nabi, is an important Islamic holiday, especially in North Africa, but due to the many corona measures, events have already been canceled. In the Netherlands too, the council of mosques spoke out against the violence. Elsewhere in the world, Muslims took to the streets to protest against Macron and France, seen as the center of blasphemy.
President Macron has announced that the surveillance of schools and places of worship such as churches will be stepped up after the attack in Nice. Macron said so in the southern French coastal town, to which he had traveled immediately after the event. “We are being attacked because of our values, our values of freedom and our desire not to succumb to terror,” Macron said.
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