Decorations nine months after the attack.
The five police officers who intervened in June 2023 to arrest Abdalmasih H, a Syrian born in 1991 who had just stabbed four young children and two adults on a playground in Annecy, received Medals of Commitment during a ceremony organized by the Mutual Security Forces.
They will soon be decorated with the National Order of Merit for their heroic behavior.
The attacker was arrested four minutes after the first call for police assistance.
VIDEO.
Knife attack in Annecy: what we know about the attacker Abdalmasih H, a 31-year-old Syrian
During the presentation of this decoration, the first police officer to intervene, who was also the one who shot the assailant and allowed him to be neutralized, returned to BFM TV on the facts.
“At the moment, you only think of one thing, and that is to stop his action.
When you see a blade of a certain length go in the first time and then a second time you tell yourself that if you do nothing, the person will pass,” he confided with a lot of emotion in his voice.
Once decorated, this man expresses his pride.
“It’s recognition of our action,” he says again.
VIDEO.
Attack in Annecy: “A force in me told me to intervene,” says Henri, “the hero with the backpacks”
In addition to the police officers who neutralized the attacker, other people who had tried to intervene to stop the attack such as Henri d'Anselme, who became known as the man with the backpack was also decorated with the Legion of Honor on July 14.
This is also the case for Yassim Bounemoura and Georges Guerdner, two city agents who tried to intervene before the arrest of the police.