Churches in Villejuif targeted
In 2015, Algerian student Sid Ahmed Glam planned several attacks against Christian churches and places of worship. He scouted around the two main churches in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne), as well as at the Sacré-Cœur. He took action on April 19 (a Sunday): in the morning, he tried to steal Aurélie Châtelain’s car in Villejuif, killed the young woman and set the vehicle on fire. Shortly before 9 am, when he intends to attack the two churches in Villejuif that he has spotted, he calls the Samu. Wounded in his attempted theft, he was finally arrested by the police before he could commit the attacks in the churches. He is currently on trial by the Paris Special Assize Court, which is due to deliver its verdict in early November.
The attack at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray
On July 26, 2016, less than two weeks after the terrible attack on the Promenade des Anglais on July 14, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean entered the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in the agglomeration of Rouen, in the office. The priest, Jacques Hamel is killed, butchered. The two young men also attack one of the parishioners, who will be seriously injured, and hold three other faithful hostage. The two terrorists are shot dead by the police. The attack is claimed by the Islamic State organization.
The foiled attack on Notre-Dame-de-Paris
On the night of September 3 to 4, 2016, a car bomb attack was foiled near Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. A commando of five women, linked to Daesh, plans to detonate a vehicle filled with gas canisters near the religious building. In October 2019, six defendants, five women and the instigator of the attack, Rachid Kassim (presumed dead in Syria), were sentenced for this failed attack by the special assize court in Paris.
A policeman attacked with a hammer in front of Notre-Dame
In June 2017, Farid Ikken, a 43-year-old Algerian, attacked police officers on patrol in front of Notre-Dame. The hammer attack left three slightly injured. The police respond, fire on the assailant and question him. The forty-something, who claims to have committed this act “to draw the attention of French opinion to the massacres of [ses] little brothers and sister in Mosul (in Iraq) and in Syria by the French army, “had pledged allegiance to Daesh. His target was more the police than the place of worship. He was condemned by the court of ‘Special meeting at 28 years of criminal imprisonment for this hammer attack last October.
–
