Maria Laura Avignolo
10/29/2020 9:49 AM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 10/29/2020 9:49 AM
France is on "
emergency alert for an attack
throughout the country."
It is the consequence of the brutal
terrorist attack in Nice,
in the Catholic basilica of Notre Dame, in the heart of the city.
Shouting
"Allah is great"
, a man attacked the faithful who were in the religious service and beheaded at least one person and stabbed to death another.
A third person, a woman, died of her injuries, although she managed to flee to a bar.
The church guard is among the victims.
The attacker was
shot
and arrested by the police ten minutes later.
He is in very serious condition in a nearby hospital.
The perpetrator of the attack identified himself as
a Tunisian,
in an irregular situation in France, who arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
He was unknown to the French intelligence services.
The police block the way to the Nice Basilica.
Photo: EFE
In the photos he looks like a young man of about 25 years old.
The attack occurred on the
birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
Prime Minister
Jean Castex
launched "the attack emergency alert" throughout the national territory. "
He announced it before the National Assembly to condemn "this ignoble attack" and show solidarity to the Catholic community, "beaten to the heart", when legislators cheered the security forces.
“The response will be firm,
implacable and immediate
.
I decided to impose the Vigipirate plan at an attack alert level throughout the national territory, ”said the premier.
It is the response to the multiplicity of terrorist acts in the country on the Prophet's birthday and the Toussaint holidays.
President Emmanuel Macron traveled to Nice together with authorities of the Catholic Church, to show solidarity while the calls to defend themselves against Islamism
with other methods
begin
.
The head of state had previously met with the crisis cell, Prime Minister Jean Castex and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
The anti-terrorist park was summoned.
France had been threatened with
Thabat
, a terrorist organization close to Al Qaeda, which denounced the publication of the
Prophet's cartoons
as blasphemous to Islam.
The threat was on the whole country and especially,
the places of worship.
A woman reacts after the attack in Nice.
Photo: EFE
An investigation "for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist company and criminal association of terrorist criminals" was opened.
It was entrusted to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and the General Directorate of Internal Security.
How was the attack
The attack
was brutal
.
The first woman
was beheaded
inside the Notre Dame basilica by the attacker with his knife.
The man, a church guard, was stabbed to death.
The third woman died in a bar in front of the basilica, where she had taken refuge, from her injuries.
"Tell my children that I love them," he said before he died.
“I am at the scene with the national police and the municipal police who have questioned the author of the attack.
I confirm that everything suggests a terrorist attack inside the Notre Dame basilica ”, declared the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi.
“My first words are of compassion for the victims and for the parish community of Notre Dame and the people of Nice who are shocked with emotion. Nice, as in France, today is on the train to pay a very heavy tribute.
We are once again victims of Islamofascism, ”said the mayor.
According to the mayor, the terrorist shouted "
" Allahou Akbar "
(Allah is great) several times when he was being treated.
“It is the time to thank the forces of order and put an end to Islamic fascism.
All
the churches are going to be closed
as well as the other places of worship to secure all the places ”he said.
Notre Dame in Paris.
All churches in France will be closed.
Photo: EFE
Fifteen days after the beheading of Professor Samuel Paty for showing the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, in full boycott of the Muslim countries to France for considering the republication of the cartoons a blasphemy and with a series of crises between Turkey and France on the subject, this new terrorist attack worries and shakes the country.
France was on alert for a severe attack again and heavily patrolled by the military and soldiers
for 15 days.
Nice martyr
The attacker was shot and arrested by the police ten minutes later.
Photo: EFE
The entire area
was closed
in the heart of the city of Nice, on Jacques Medecin avenue, in search of other allies of the attacker.
The basilica is located in the commercial center of the city of the French Riviera.
The police started a
demining
operation
in the church
and searched inside for more victims, hidden persons or accomplices.
RAID special forces were on the scene.
This is
the third terrorist attack
in Nice.
A truck vibrated on the Promenade de los Ingleses on July 14, 2016, leaving more than 86 dead and 456 injured.
In 2015 there was a knife attack at a Jewish place of worship.
David owns a bakery across from the cathedral and who called the police.
“A totally shocked person came to my place and asked: 'Call the police.
There is a beheaded woman in the cathedral. '
I
thought it was a joke.
It was 9 am.
Call the police.
In 30 seconds the municipal police arrived and I lowered the curtain to protect the people, "he told BFMTV.
The people of Nice are shocked and scared.
"It could have been me," said a neighbor.
"Many times I spend the morning praying in front of a candle in the basilica."
Reactions
It was Marine Le Pen, the leader of the former National Front, the first to announce that it was a beheading.
She demanded "a law of war to combat an ideology:
Salafism
."
Jean Luc Mélenchon, the leader of France Insoumise, showed his "solidarity with the Catholics of France" and "for their victims."
The French Bishops' Conference said that "Christians should not be a target to be struck down," after describing the act as "unspeakable."
"There is an urgency to combat this
gangrene
that is terrorism, in the same way that there is an urgency to put in a concrete way a fraternity in our country."
The people of Nice are shocked and scared.
Photo: EFE
Former Socialist Prime Minister
Jean Marc Ayrault
wrote on his Twitter: “Solidarity with the families of the victims and the inhabitants of Nice, once again beaten to the heart.
Let us remain united and determined with all our forces in the face of the threat of Islamist terrorism against our country ”.
David Sassoli
, President of the European Parliament, was “deeply shocked and saddened by the new and horrible attack in Nice.
This pain is felt throughout Europe.
We must unite against violence and against those who seek to incite and spread hatred ”.
Cancel Muslim holidays
This attack comes in a context of heightened terrorist threat, following the attack on the former Charlie Hebdo newsroom and the murder by beheading of Samuel Paty, the history teacher who showed the cartoons.
At the beginning of the week, the director general of the national police called his troops to vigilance, stating in a telegram addressed to their directorates and central services that "France
is the target of a
high and constant
terrorist threat
."
The attackers radicalize very quickly and
are not registered
by the police.
When all French people celebrate the feast of
Toussaint
this week
and it is the birthday of the Prophet for Muslims, the new attack shakes and terrorizes the country and generates more intercommunity tensions, in a country where 8 million Muslims live.
The president is under pressure to combat the method of fighting Islamism and politicians speak of "war."
The French Council of Muslim Worship called on Muslims "to cancel all Mawlid festivals, to celebrate the birthday of the prophet."
“I strongly condemn the terrorist attack that took place in the Notre Dame de Nice basilica.
In a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their relatives, I call on the Muslims of France to cancel all the festivities of the feast of Mawlid, ”wrote the Muslim Council of Worship.
These festivities are a tradition that runs between October
28 and 29
to commemorate the birth of the Prophet.
The entrance doors to the Basilica of Nice.
Photo: EFE
France is in
open conflict with Turkey
and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, over the cartoons.
France withdrew its ambassador to Ankara.
There is a boycott throughout the Middle East and in Muslim countries against the products in France.
Other attacks
Another incident in
Avignon
is added to the attack on Nice
.
A man was killed by police when he
threatened
passersby
with a knife
at noon in France.
No official information has been released.
Also, it was reported the arrest of an Afghan citizen armed with a knife in
Lyon.
At the Jeddah French consulate in Saudi Arabia,
a guard was attacked with a knife
by an Arab this morning.
A new stage begins in France.
This accumulation of terrorist acts will condition people's lives and their lifestyle.
An open war against Islamism, with law reforms, begins in the face of an endogenous threat that is difficult to detect.
The first measures will include the expulsion of foreigners with radicalization cards (Sheet S) from the security services and deciding what they will do with radical Islamists, who can be released from French prisons.
The government ordered the protection of
all
Catholic, Jewish and Muslim
places of worship from
fear of attacks and reprisals and the protection of cemeteries.
Terrorist acts carried out by individuals who are not registered by the intelligence services are expected.
The lockdown begins on Friday.
In this state of alert, there is only one good news: the French
will be protected in their homes
from this terrorist threat, which targets any civilian, as well as their places of worship and cafes.
Look also
In photos: terrorist attack in Nice that left three people dead
Paris, correspondent
ap