There can by no means be a spot for racism and hate in France, President Emmanuel Macron stated on Sunday after the brutal stabbing to loss of life of a Muslim in a mosque within the south of the nation.
“Racism and hatred based mostly on faith can haven’t any place in France. Freedom of worship can’t be violated,” Macron wrote on X in his first feedback on Friday’s killing, extending his assist to “our fellow Muslim residents”.
The attacker, who’s on the run, stabbed the worshipper dozens of instances after which filmed him with a cell phone whereas shouting insults at Islam in Friday’s assault within the village of La Grand-Combe within the Gard area.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou had already denounced what he described an “Islamophobic atrocity”.
The alleged perpetrator despatched the video he had filmed along with his telephone — exhibiting the sufferer writhing in agony — to a different individual, who then shared it on a social media platform earlier than deleting it.
A supply near the case, who requested to not be named, stated the suspected perpetrator, whereas not apprehended, has been recognized as a French citizen of Bosnian origin who isn’t a Muslim.
The sufferer, a younger Malian man in his 20s, and the attacker had been alone contained in the mosque on the time of the incident.
After initially praying alongside the person, the attacker then stabbed the sufferer as much as 50 instances earlier than fleeing the scene.
The physique of the sufferer was solely found later within the morning when different worshippers arrived on the mosque for Friday prayers.
A protest “in opposition to Islamophobia” was attributable to happen Sunday night in Paris within the wake of the killing.
The French Council of the Muslim Religion (CFCM) stated it was “horrified” by the “anti-Muslim terrorist assault” and urged Muslims in France to be “extraordinarily vigilant”.
“The homicide of a worshipper in a mosque is a despicable crime that should revolt the hearts of all French individuals,” added the Consultant Council of Jewish Establishments of France (CRIF).
The attacker — who has been named solely as Olivier, born in France in 2004 and unemployed and not using a legal document — is “probably extraordinarily harmful” and it’s “important” to arrest him earlier than he claims extra victims, in response to regional prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini.
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