A policeman survived a knife assault within the French Riviera metropolis of Cannes on Monday, with media citing a police supply as saying the attacker had stated he was performing “in the name of the Prophet”.
BFM TV and Le Figaro newspaper stated the suspect was an Algerian nationwide with an Italian residence allow.
Interior Minister Gerald Dormann stated the policeman got here out unscathed from the assault, saved from critical damage or worse by his bulletproof vest, which he stated had been “neutralised” by different officers.
Cannes Mayor David Lisnard stated the incident was “sickening”. The assault got here as President Emmanuel Macron tried to persuade voters that his authorities was answerable for safety and violent crime six months earlier than the election, with conservatives and conservatives at biggest danger. on his re-election hopes
Eric Ciotti, a conservative lawmaker from southeastern France who’s difficult a mainstream centre-right presidential ticket, known as the incident a terrorist assault, though he didn’t present any proof.
The investigation is for now within the palms of the native prosecutor, not the nationwide counter-terrorism prosecutor.
Dormanin stated he would journey to Cannes, an opulent Mediterranean resort well-liked with celebrities and tycoons, and which hosts the annual Cannes Film Festival.
BFM TV quoted a police supply as saying that the attacker opened the door of a police automotive stationed in entrance of the police station and stabbed the policeman with a knife. He then tried to assault the second policeman within the automotive however the third policeman opened fireplace, critically injuring the attacker.
BFM TV and Nice Matin newspaper, citing a police supply, stated the suspect stated he had carried out the assault “in the name of the Prophet Muhammad”, pointing to doable Islamist extremist hyperlinks.
The assault coincides with the trial of Salah Abdeslam, the one surviving member of the Islamic State cell, who carried out gun and bomb assaults on leisure venues in Paris in November 2015, killing 130 folks.
.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
