terrorism in FranceTo Annecywhere four children and two adults were attacked with a knife in a park by a Syrian migrant who was later arrested by police. All four injured children are in a “very serious” condition. as prosecutor Line Bonet-Mathis reported at a press conference in the French city of Haute-Savoie. One of them was transferred to Geneva, another to Grenoble. The prognosis for two of the children is cautious. According to Bonet-Mathis, they are a two- and three-year-old brother and a three-year-old sister, a 22-month-old Dutch boy and a three-year-old English girl who were in Annecy for tourism.
An elderly man was also injured, a grandfather who was in the park with his grandchildren. According to media reports, 37 people are in shock after observing the crime scene and are being monitored by local health workers.
Witnesses reported the attack. The attacker began to “jump”, then “screamed” and “walked towards the prams, repeatedly attacking the children with the knife”: this is the dramatic story narrated by Ferdinand, one of the witnesses to the Annecy attack Le Parisien. Another witness, Anthony, said he saw “kids and a mother on the ground”: “When the attacker saw that he was surrounded by police, he walked up to a couple and went straight for the knife.” Grandfather who was there with his wife and stabbed him.
There France rejected the Syrian’s request for political asylum on June 4Sources close to the investigation report. “He had also been granted asylum in Italy and Switzerland,” said sources of the inquiry, quoted by BFM TV.
The assassin was arrested immediately. According to police, the man in question is a 31-year-old Syrian man who, according to Le Parisien sources, applied for asylum in France on November 28, 2022. In the meantime, he had received refugee status in Sweden by decision of April 26, 2023. According to the police, he is neither registered nor reported by the secret services as a dangerous element. He declared himself a “Christian of Syria” and was carrying a Christian cross at the time of his arrest.
Prosecutor Line Bonet-Mathis ruled out terrorism during a press conference on the shores of Lake Annecy, which was televised live. “No terrorist motive emerges,” he said. Speaking to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Bonet-Mathis added that the assassin was “only slightly injured” in custody.
Knife attack in Annecy: the killer’s escape, gun in hand
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of an “attack of absolute cowardice”. In a tweet, he added: “Children and adults are between life and death. The nation is in shock.” When news of the attack broke, the very tense debate on pension reform that was ongoing in the Assemblée Nationale was interrupted and a minute’s silence was observed.
“Anger and pain at what happened in Annecy – wrote Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on social media – in France, where some children were stabbed and adults with them. I am breathless at such a monstrous act. Solidarity with the victims of this brutal violence and with the entire French people.”
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