(Annecy) A Syrian asylum seeker sowed terror on Thursday morning and caused a stir in France by injuring, armed with a knife, six people including four very young children before being arrested by the police.
Three of the victims, two children and an adult, have a vital prognosis, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The terrorist character or not of the attack, which occurred in Annecy (east), is being assessed.
President Emmanuel Macron denounced an “attack of absolute cowardice”.
“The Nation is in shock. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the mobilized relief workers, ”said the French president on Twitter.
The man attacked children aged around three who were on a playground in the large park bordering Lake Annecy, in the historic center.
Of Syrian nationality, he was born in 1991 and had obtained refugee status in Sweden, where he lived for 10 years, by a decision of April 26, 2023. He had entered into a regular situation on French territory where he had however filed a second asylum application in November 2022, according to a police source.
“It happened at 9:45 a.m. (3:45 a.m. Eastern time) this morning, with knives” near the Jardin de l’Europe, a very busy park located on the shores of Lake Annecy , reported the prefecture.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin immediately reacted on Tweeter: “Several people, including children, were injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy. The individual was arrested thanks to the very rapid intervention of the police.
According to various testimonies, the man tried to flee from the playground and attacked an elderly person before being arrested very quickly by the police. The emergency services were alerted at 9:41 am, the intervention triggered immediately and the attacker arrested four minutes later, according to a timing released by the police.
“He wanted to attack everyone. I moved away and he went straight for a grandpa and a grandma, and he stabbed the grandpa, ”ex-Saint-Étienne and Liverpool player Anthony Le Tallec told the Dauphiné Libéré.
“It was total panic. I think he was in his forties, Arab type, he had a bandana or a turban, he took it off in front of me. He didn’t say anything special, ”said the sportsman who was jogging by the lake.
“He attacked babies”
“It was a little unreal […], he shouted, it was not necessarily understandable what he was saying. He preyed on babies […], he fled, the police arrived. They tried to stop him at first without opening fire, when he understood that he was trapped he attacked an elderly person and there they shot him in the legs, “said for his part. Malo, a witness contacted by BFM TV who was near the playground.
The surroundings of the park were cordoned off by a large police force, noted an AFP journalist on the spot. The attack sowed fear in this usually very calm water town. “It’s a shock,” said Kévin Poncin, 27, on his bike stopped near the park.
According to the daily Dauphiné Liberated, most of the victims were transferred to the Annecy Genevois hospital center and the witnesses taken to a building near the scene of the tragedy.
A crisis unit has been set up at the Haute-Savoie prefecture, which has also set up an information system for the public.
In Paris, deputies and members of the government observed a minute of silence in the National Assembly.
The President of the Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet invited this minute of silence “for them, for their families”, after this “serious attack”.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne and Gérald Darmanin are expected on site Thursday, their entourages announced to AFP.
“Appalling attack this morning on the Pâquier in Annecy. All my thoughts to the victims and families,” tweeted Mayor François Astorg.
Several knife attacks have taken place recently in France, but no recent stabbing attacks have targeted children.