A Syrian refugee armed with a knife injured six people, including four children aged 22 to 36 months, in a park in Annecy, southeastern France, on Thursday morning. An attack “without an obvious terrorist motive” that caused a wave of emotions in Europe.
• Also read: “Run! Run!”: A man sows terror in a park in Annecy, France
The assailant, “a political refugee who would be homeless, arrived in Annecy in the autumn of 2022” was “neither under the influence of narcotics nor alcohol,” Annecy prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis explained during a press conference.
“As it stands, we have no evidence that would lead us to believe there is a terrorist motivation.” senseless act” cannot be ruled out.
“We are shocked by this heinous, unspeakable act,” said French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who went there to “express all the nation’s support and solidarity”.
The four injured children, including a Briton and a Dutchman, were taken to Geneva and Grenoble after first aid was given on site. “Your health is extremely fragile, you are still in an absolute emergency,” the prosecutor said, stating that the attacker had attacked “vital parts”.
An adult remains in hospital after being injured by the attacker and then hit by police gunfire during the arrest. Another adult was hit more easily, according to prosecutors.
British consular representatives have been dispatched to Paris, announced British diplomatic chief James Cleverly, who was traveling to Paris, expressing his “strong solidarity with the French people in these terrible times”.
Italian diplomatic chief Antonio Tajani also expressed his “full solidarity with France” by calling on Twitter to “condemn such violence with the utmost determination”.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned an “attack of absolute cowardice”. “The nation is in shock,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
Abdalmasih H., a Syrian national born in 1991, was granted asylum in Sweden in 2013, where he lived for ten years. “He couldn’t get Swedish citizenship and decided to leave the country. We broke up because I didn’t want to leave Sweden,” his ex-wife told AFP.
When he arrived in France a few months ago, he found himself in a normal situation. In a new asylum application filed in France in November 2022, he declared himself a “Christian from Syria,” according to a police source. And he was wearing a Christian cross when he was arrested.
The attack happened around 9:30 a.m. in a playground near the Jardin de l’Europe in the historic center of Annecy.
The man, dressed in black shorts and with a blue scarf over his head, attacked children in a playground, according to images of the tragedy confirmed by AFP. We see him in this video stretching his arms to the sky and shouting “in the name of Jesus!” in English.
Other images circulated by the press show him running in the middle of a lawn with a knife in his hand. “An Opinel-type folding knife,” the prosecutor said, adding that her backpack was confiscated.
According to various witnesses, the attacker tried to flee and attacked an elderly person before being arrested by the police, who opened fire. An investigation into the police shootings has been launched.
At 9.41 a.m. local time, the emergency services were alerted, the intervention was triggered immediately and the man arrested four minutes later, the police said.
“I was walking along the lake and suddenly I see dozens of people running in the opposite direction. (…) There is a mother who says to me: “Run, run! There’s someone stabbing everyone all over the lake, he’s stabbed kids, run!” former professional soccer player Anthony Le Tallec in an Instagram story.
SCREENSHOT/INSTAGRAM/ANTHONY LE TALLEC
The attack sparked fear in this normally very quiet water town. “What happened is unacceptable, appalling. “That never happened in Annecy,” said environmentalist mayor François d’Astorg, expressing his “anger” during a press conference.
The authorities had to deny rumors circulating in the city about the presence of a second attacker.
The attack sparked an avalanche of reactions in the political world, with right-wing and far-right elected officials highlighting the attacker’s background and status.
In the wake of this tragedy, “our entire migration policy and a set of European rules must be questioned,” Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally (formerly Front National, far right), said on Twitter.
A far-right collective has planned to demonstrate in Annecy in the evening. “We will do everything necessary to deal with this event, should it take place,” warned Prefect Yves Le Breton during a press conference.