Maria Laura Avignolo
10/31/2020 2:01 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 10/31/2020 2:20 PM
A serious apparently terrorist incident occurred on Saturday afternoon in Lyon, two hours by train from Paris.
An Orthodox priest was seriously shot in the chest outside the church and the attacker managed to flee.
He was not identified by the authorities but he was armed.
The priest was identified as Nicolás K, 52 years old and father of three children.
His vital prognosis is compromised, according to health authorities.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex, who was on tour in Rouen and Saint Etienne de Rouvray, where a priest was beheaded in the atrium by Islamists, is urgently returning to Paris.
If it is confirmed that it was a terrorist act, it would be the
third in less than 15 days in France
, which is in an "urgent attack alert" after the Islamist attack on Thursday on the Notre Dame basilica in Nice, which left three dead: a beheaded woman, a sacristan with her throat cut and a Brazilian woman, who died of her injuries in the bar opposite.
Soldiers guard the church of Saint-Etienne du Rouvray, in northwestern France, that Saturday, where the Prime Minister of France, Jean Castex, was.
Photo: EFE
The events of this Saturday happened at 4 in the afternoon, when the Orthodox father closed the door of his church, in the VII neighborhood of Lyon.
"He was wounded by a single man, who shot him twice," a police source said.
The priest of Greek nationality is
"very serious"
, even though he was conscious when the ambulance arrived to treat him in the emergency room.
At least he was wounded by two bullets.
The entire area has been closed to circulation and the aggressor, who would be
armed with a hunting rifle,
was actively sought
.
The police launched the alert and asked that the sector be avoided and that the instructions of the authorities be followed.
The motivations for the attack are unknown.
The national anti-terrorist team assesses the situation on the ground.
“It is the first time that there is an attack on the Orthodox in France.
It is very disturbing.
I can't stand it when they touch our church and our education.
Days ago it went to the Catholics, now to the Orthodox of Lyon, Poor France ”, said a parishioner in Lyon.
The Orthodox community and the Eastern churches have a strong presence in Lyon
, where there are many political refugees of that origin: Syrians, Ethiopians, Russians and Orthodox Serbs live in Lyon.
France is in "maximum urgency attack", with 7,000 soldiers deployed throughout the country, especially in places of worship and cemeteries.
It is the first time that the Orthodox cult has been attacked.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanian opened a crisis cell in the Interior Ministry.
The attack comes as
France is being accused of offending the Prophet Muhammad with his cartoons
and his defense of the right to blasphemy.
There are protests against France in the Gulf countries, in Turkey, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
At least 8 million Muslims live in France.
Paris, correspondent
CB