A man injured five people, including four small children, in a knife attack in the French Alpine town of Annecy. The man attacked a group of children with a knife at around 9.45 a.m. in a park near Lac d’Annecy, the AFP news agency learned on Thursday from security circles. President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack as “absolutely cowardly”.
The background of the fact is still unclear
The children were said to be around three years old. At least three victims, including two children, are said to be in mortal danger. Whether the attack was a terrorist attack is currently being checked, it said.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Twitter that the perpetrator was “arrested thanks to the quick response of the security forces”.
According to police sources, the attacker described himself as an asylum seeker from Syria. His identity has now been confirmed by the authorities, it said. The man, who was born in 1991, was previously unknown to the police. Accordingly, he previously lived in Sweden for ten years. He has had refugee status since April and was therefore regularly resident in France.
According to a local AFP journalist, the area around the park was cordoned off by a large police force. The newspaper “Dauphiné Libéré” reported that the victims were taken to a hospital and the eyewitnesses to a building near the scene of the accident. A crisis unit was set up in the Haute-Savoie prefecture, which also provided information to the public.
Eyewitness Reactions: “Total Panic”
“It was a bit unreal,” an eyewitness named Malo told BFM TV. The attacker screamed. “It was not necessarily understandable what he said. He attacked babies (…), he fled, the police came.”
The officers initially tried to stop the man without shooting at him. “When he realized he was being lured into a trap, he attacked an elderly person and they shot him in the legs,” said Malo, who was in the park at the time of the crime.
Another eyewitness described “total panic”. “He wanted to attack everyone,” said professional footballer Anthony Le Tallec, who was jogging in the park at the time, the “Dauphiné Libéré”. He himself had dodged to the side. However, the attacker pounced on an elderly couple and stabbed the elderly man.
Minute of silence in Parliament
President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack as “absolutely cowardly”. “Our thoughts are with them, their families and the mobilized rescue workers,” Macron said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s office announced that she would travel to the scene of the crime in Annecy. The French parliament held a minute’s silence after the attack became known.
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