Macron, a firm message after the attack convicted by the prime minister as an “Islamophobic atrocity”
Emmanuel Macron. Photo credit: Ludovic Marin / AFP / Profimedia
There can never be room for racism and hatred in France, said President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday after the death of a Muslim in an attack on a mosque in the south of the country, AFP reports.
“Racism and hatred based on religion cannot have their place in France. Freedom of worship cannot be violated,” Macron wrote on X, in his first remarks after the Friday's attack, giving his support “our Muslims.”
The attacker, who has not been trapped so far, stabbed the believer Muslim dozens of times, filmed with his mobile phone and shouted insults to Islam on Friday, in a mosque in Le Grand-Combe in the fence region.
On Saturday, French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou denounced what he described to be an “Islamophobic atrocity.”
The alleged aggressor sent the video recording with the attack of another person, who distributed on a social network, and then to delete.
The attacker, a French citizen of Bosnian origin
A source close to the case, who wanted to not reveal his name, told AFP that the alleged aggressor, although not arrested, was identified as a French citizen of Bosnian origin, who is not Muslim.
The victim, a young Malian, and the attacker were alone inside the mosque at the time of the attack.
The attacker initially prayed with the victim, and then stabbed it up to 50 times and fled from the scene.
The inanimate body was detected later in the morning, when other believers arrived at mosque for Friday's prayers.
Protest “against Islamophobia” in Paris
In Paris, on Sunday night, a protest “against Islamophobia” will be held.
The French Council of Muslim faith (CFCM) has been declared “terrified” by the “antimusulman terrorist attack” and urged the Muslims in France to be “extremely vigilant.”
“The killing of a believer in a mosque is a lower crime that has to revolt the hearts of all the French,” said the representative council of Jewish institutions in France (CRIF).
The attacker – who was publicly appointed only as “Olivier”, born in France in 2004 and unemployed without a criminal record – is “extremely dangerous potential” and is “essential” to be arrested before making more victims, according to Abdelkrim Grini prosecutor.
