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Prime suspect admits attack outside former Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris
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Several people injured after a knife attack in Paris
Several people were injured in a knife attack near the former offices of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”. The Paris counter-terrorism prosecutor has now taken over the investigation.
After the knife attack near the former editorial office of “Charlie Hebdo”, the main suspect has made a confession. Six other men are in police custody and one person has since been released.
northAfter the alleged Islamist attack in front of the former headquarters of the satirical newspaper “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris, the main suspect confessed to the crime. This is reported by the AFP news agency and other French media. The man arrested after the attack took “responsibility for his act,” AFP learned Saturday from investigators. As a reason he named the reissue of controversial cartoons of Muhammad by “Charlie Hebdo”, which he “could not bear.”
In front of the former headquarters of the “Charlie Hebdo” newsroom, an attacker on Friday attacked two journalists with a knife and seriously wounded them. He works for a production company located in the building. A short time later, the main suspect was arrested near the crime scene.
According to his own statements, he is 18 years old and comes from Pakistan. According to the police, he has been in France for three years and was not previously known as an Islamist. In June, however, he was temporarily detained in possession of a “stabbing weapon”. It was a screwdriver.
Six more arrests in Paris
In addition to the main suspect, six other men were in police custody Saturday morning, including a former roommate of the main suspect. An Algerian who was initially arrested was released that night because he had nothing to do with the attack. Rather, the investigations confirmed his statement that he had observed the crime as an eyewitness and followed the attacker and was later threatened by him.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described Friday night’s attack as an “act of Islamist terrorism.” There is little doubt that this is another “bloody attack on our country,” he said on French television. He also asked the police prefecture to verify why the threat on this street had been underestimated, even if the editorial office was not based there for several years.
Victims who are not in danger of death
According to Prime Minister Jean Castex, the victims are not in danger of death. Meanwhile, the “Charlie Hebdo” newsroom has moved: in January 2015, eleven people were brutally murdered in the newsrooms.
The Paris-based production company, whose employees were injured in the attack, co-produced a documentary about the attacks on “Charlie Hebdo.” “Three Days Of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks” is the name of the documentary that was produced for the US network HBO, the British BBC and the French channel France 2. Witnesses, policemen and survivors speak in the film about the horror series of January 2015, in which a total of 17 people died over several days, according to the “Premières Lignes” website.
France has been rocked by Islamist attacks for years: more than 250 people died. Therefore, people are almost always aware of the threat of terrorism. But for the moment the fight against the corona virus is the main focus of the country. There are thousands of new infections every day and the situation is deteriorating markedly. Even if that has put the fear of terror in the background, about seven kilometers from the crime scene, something reminds of the danger almost every day.
The trial of the alleged assistants of the terror series in January 2015 has been taking place there since the beginning of the month in the Palace of Justice. You can only enter the Crystal Palace in high security conditions. When the trial began, Charlie Hebdo republished cartoons of Mohammed, and the publishers were again threatened. In an open letter, around 100 French media backed the satirical magazine and called on the people of the country to defend freedom of expression.
Prime Minister Castex came to the scene
Prime Minister Castex rushed to the scene of the crime in the 11th arrondissement of Paris on Friday afternoon. He spoke of a “symbolic place”. “I would like to express my solidarity with the families of the victims and all the colleagues of these two journalists,” he said. He reiterated his “firm determination” to fight terrorism by all means. The editorial team of “Charlie Hebdo” also responded: “Charlie’s entire team supports and stands in solidarity with his former neighbors and colleagues.”
Thousands of students had to wait hours in schools as a precautionary measure after Friday’s attack. Parents cannot pick up their children from daycare. Heavily armed security forces cordoned off the entire area in eastern Paris around the crime scene, and there were numerous emergency vehicles on the streets.
The authorities continue to rate the terrorist threat in the country as very high. Fighting terrorism has always been one of President Emmanuel Macron’s top priorities. In April, a man killed two people in Romans-sur-Isère, near Valence. In August, six French people were killed in a fatal attack in Niger: the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia assumed responsibility for the crime.
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