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© Reuters
Authorities in the French city of Nice are investigating a terrorist attack that killed three people in a church this morning, police said, quoted by Reuters.
A Reuters source in the police claims that one of the victims was beheaded; the same thing happened to a teacher in Paris earlier this month. This was also reported by BFMTV. Later, Mayor Christian Estrozi wrote on Twitter that there were “three victims, two of whom died,” and he said at a press conference that a woman’s throat was cut. “We are again victims of Islamic fascism,” he wrote.
According to him, the author of the attack on the church “Notre Dame” in the city has arrested the author. “I can confirm that all the facts speak of a terrorist attack.” Reuters quoted reporters as saying that the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is the greatest”) even after police arrested him.
All the churches are closing
Half an hour ago, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanen wrote that a police operation was underway and urged citizens to avoid the church area. Notre Dame is located on one of the main arteries of Nice, Jean Madsen (the boulevard is named after a famous mayor from the 19th century).
According to the Figaro newspaper, the detainee was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound.
President Emmanuel Macron will meet this morning with an “emergency crisis unit” on the situation. A minute’s silence was observed in parliament, where Prime Minister Jean Castex spoke about the new quarantine.
Meanwhile, Estrozi said he had called for all churches and other religious temples to be closed, along with mangers and other similar places where a terrorist threat could arise. “We need major reinforcements to make the entire city safe.”
It comes less than two weeks after the beheading of teacher Samuel Patti in Paris, who showed his students cartoons from the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, including those of the Prophet Muhammad, considered by the murderer as an insult to Islam.
Problems for the police
France defended cartoons and the right to display them in the name of freedom of expression, but this sparked a wave of discontent in some parts of the Muslim world. Some governments have accused French President Emmanuel Macron of working against Islam and effectively inciting terrorism.
Macron said he was launching a strategy to address radicalization and “Islamist separatism” and said he believed Islam was in crisis around the world. In addition to the leaders who openly criticized his statements, there were voices such as that of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who accused the president of “promoting terrorism.” This happened despite the fact that the attacker, who beheaded Samuel Patti, was a Chechen.
France, meanwhile, has raised the level of terrorist danger ahead of All Saints’ Day. At the time of the new quarantine announced, the police must monitor compliance with the strict exit rules and ensure safety when threats of further attacks arise.
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