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A Tunisian man killed three people Thursday at the Nice Basilica. Like the authors of the last two attacks in France, he came to Europe as a refugee.
After the attack on the Nice Basilica, the police secure the building. The attack is the second in the Mediterranean city after 2016.
For the third time since late September, there was an Islamist-motivated attack in France on Thursday. Shortly before 9 am at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice, a man attacked a 60-year-old woman for the first time and slit her throat. Second, the assassin fatally wounded the 55-year-old cathedral sexton with a knife to the neck. His third victim, a woman, was able to save herself in a cafe near the church despite serious injuries. However, she died there. The perpetrator was shot by the four police officers who rushed to arrive and is in hospital with life-threatening injuries. The anti-terror prosecutor, who announced the first results of the “complex” investigation on Thursday night, confirmed eyewitness reports that the perpetrator shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) in the presence of the police.
According to the prosecutor, the attacker was carrying a document from the Italian Red Cross. According to this, he was born in Tunisia in 1999 and arrived in Europe via Lampedusa on September 20. He was seen in Bari on October 9. He was not known to the French authorities or the secret services; presumably not long in the country. He apparently did not travel to Nice until Thursday morning, where he was recorded by video cameras at the train station shortly before 7 a.m. Investigators found a Koran at the crime scene, a bag with personal belongings and side of the murder weapon, a 35 cm long knife, two other unused knives.
Declaration after the terrorist attack in Nice. https://t.co/9UmVPYLDf7
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 29, 2020
President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Nice with his interior and justice ministers that same afternoon. After attending church and speaking with security forces, church officials and local politicians, he appeared before the press. He assured the Catholic community of his support. The president spoke of an attack on France. “If they attack us it is because of our values, because of our preference for freedom and the freedom to believe.” He said it again and very clearly: “We will not give up.”
Incidents in other cities too
Macron also mentioned the incident in front of the French consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where a security guard was wounded with a knife on Thursday. The perpetrator was arrested, the man’s life is not in danger.
In recent days there have been anti-French protests in several Muslim countries. Popular anger was sparked by various statements by Macron on Islam. It culminated in protests after the French president said at the murdered teacher’s funeral that cartoons would be kept.
Emmanuel Macron visits Nice in the early afternoon and takes a lot of time to speak to the security forces.
Macron also explained what the terror alert level means, which had already been raised to the highest level in the morning: around 7,000 soldiers are assigned to guard schools and religious sites in the country. The highest level of terrorism alert applies to the entire country. In the early afternoon there was also an incident in the center of Lyon. Police detained a man wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a 12-inch knife. The Afghan was already known to the secret services and was arrested.
According to a report by “Figaro”, the French Interior Minister warned the prefects in the country last Sunday of an increased risk of terrorist acts. He was referring to a call from an al-Qaeda-affiliated agency, calling for individual attacks against religious institutions using sharp weapons or vehicles aimed at the crowd. The reason for this is supposedly current: the recently published cartoons by “Charlie Hebdo”, the debate over the veil, the searches by the police of mosques and members of the Muslim faith, but also the French military operation in Mali.
Refugees become perpetrators
After the attack on a teacher two weeks ago, the government temporarily closed a mosque and dissolved two Islamic organizations. Social media should also be better monitored. In addition, the Interior Minister has expressed the intention to deport more than 200 people who have been exposed to radicalization and who have unregulated residency status. Macron has called a government crisis meeting for Friday, the third this week. The other two were on the crown crisis, which the country also has a firm grip on. As a result, new measures could be announced in the fight against Islamism.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, spoke on Thursday of an “Islamo-fascism” that cannot be fought with the current laws. Their city has been targeted by Islamist assassins for the third time since 2015. Estrosi’s party, the conservative Republicans, also asked them to finally do something about the “political chaos of migration” in the country. The Russian, who beheaded the teacher in the street two weeks ago, and the Pakistani, who seriously injured two people in front of the old “Charlie Hebdo” publishing house in Paris at the end of September, also came to the country as refugees. They had received protection status from the French authorities.
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