This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/08/knife-attack-french-alps-annecy

The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 6 Version 7
Four children and an adult injured in knife attack in French Alps Four children and two adults injured in knife attack in French Alps
(about 1 hour later)
France’s interior minister says attack took place in a square in the town of Annecy Police detain man after attacks in lakeside playground that left children in critical condition
Four children and an adult have been injured in a knife attack in the picturesque town of Annecy in the French Alps. Four children and two adults have been injured in a knife attack in the picturesque town of Annecy in the French Alps.
At least three of the victims are in a critical condition in hospital. A British national was among the children injured, the UK foreign minister James Cleverly said. The children – one aged 22 months, two aged two years old and one aged three – were in a critical condition from stab wounds, and were transferred to hospitals in the French Alps and across the Swiss border in Geneva on Thursday afternoon.
At about 9.45am, a man armed with a knife entered a children’s playground near the town’s famous lake and attacked a group of children aged about three years old - including one in a pushchair - as they played, a security source and a local official told AFP. Dozens of other very young children were receiving support for the trauma of witnessing the stabbings, which happened at a lakeside playground. High schoolchildren who had also witnessed the attack were being treated for shock.
One of the critically injured young children was British, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, confirmed. French authorities said the British child was a tourist. Another of the children was Dutch. A 70-year-old man was also seriously injured – first stabbed by the knife-attacker and then injured by police fire. A second adult was treated for injuries.
At about 9.45am, a man armed with a knife entered the playground near Annecy’s famous lake, an area prized by locals and tourists for its quiet calm and breathtaking views. The man walked past the adults in the park and targeted very young children with a knife – including one child in a pushchair, according to witnesses. Within minutes, the attacker was pursued by police. He then attacked an elderly man in a different part of the park. Police fired shots and detained the attacker, who was unharmed, and was being questioned by police.
The local prosecutor said an inquiry was under way for attempted murder. National police, rather than anti-terrorist investigators, are heading the investigation. The prosecutor said the initial investigations showed that “there is no apparent terrorist motive”.
The French prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, said the suspect was a Syrian man who had been granted refugee status in Sweden. Police described him as aged in his early 30s. Borne said he was homeless and an “isolated individual”. He had asked for asylum in France, which had not been processed because he already had refugee status in Sweden. Because he had EU refugee status, he was free to travel legally to France.
Police sources told Le Monde that the man had declared himself to be a Syrian Christian in his French asylum application. Le Monde and other French media reported that he had been wearing a Christian cross on a chain round his neck when arrested.
Borne said French authorities had contacted international security and intelligence agencies and the man was unknown to any French, European or other foreign security service. He had no criminal record, and no apparent psychiatric record, she said.
Borne described the attack as “savage” and said the whole of France had been “shaken by this hateful, indescribable act”.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, tweeted that it was an act of “absolute cowardice” and that the nation was in shock.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, tweeted that it was an act of “absolute cowardice” and that the nation was in shock.
Attaque d’une lâcheté absolue ce matin dans un parc à Annecy. Des enfants et un adulte sont entre la vie et la mort. La Nation est sous le choc. Nos pensées les accompagnent ainsi que leurs familles et les secours mobilisés.Attaque d’une lâcheté absolue ce matin dans un parc à Annecy. Des enfants et un adulte sont entre la vie et la mort. La Nation est sous le choc. Nos pensées les accompagnent ainsi que leurs familles et les secours mobilisés.
Witnesses described the suspected knifeman running around in a frenzy, apparently attacking people at random, before he was stopped by police near the banks of Lake Annecy. Cleverly, who was speaking at an OECD ministerial council press conference in France, called the attacks a “terrible act of violence” and said the British government was ready to support the French authorities in whatever way they could.
Cleverly, who was speaking at an OECD ministerial council press conference in France, cleverly called the attacks a “terrible act of violence” and said the British government was ready to support the French authorities in whatever way they could.
“We are also aware that one of the people, one of the children injured, was a British national,” he said. “We have already deployed British consular officials who are travelling to the area to make themselves available to support the family. And of course we stand in strong solidarity with the people of France at this terrible time.”
The former Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec, who has also played for FC Annecy, was out running near the lake at the time of the attack. He described suddenly seeing dozens of people running towards him, a mother shouting: “Run, someone is stabbing everyone, he’s stabbing children!”The former Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec, who has also played for FC Annecy, was out running near the lake at the time of the attack. He described suddenly seeing dozens of people running towards him, a mother shouting: “Run, someone is stabbing everyone, he’s stabbing children!”
Le Tallec, 38, said on instagram and in later French media interviews, that he was surprised but kept running, then saw the attacker running followed by police chasing him, trying to catch him. Le Tallec said he saw the attacker then rush towards a group of elderly people where he stabbed an old man twice. Le Tallec said he had shouted at the police to shoot the man. Le Tallec, 38, said on Instagram and in later French media interviews that he was surprised but kept running, then saw the attacker running followed by police chasing him, trying to catch him. Le Tallec said he saw the attacker then rush towards a group of elderly people where he stabbed a man twice. Le Tallec said he had shouted at the police to shoot the man.
Le Tallec said that shortly after, he continued his run. “And then I saw, in the distance, children on the ground. It’s incredible.” Another witness, Malo, told BFMTV that the man was “shouting, but it wasn’t really comprehensible”. Another witness told local public radio that the attacker had seem “confused”. A witness called Nelly told France Info radio: “People were running, crying, panicking … it was horrible.”
Another witness, Malo, told BFMTV that the culprit attacked the children before targeting an old man and was “shouting, but it wasn’t really comprehensible”. The prime minister travelled to the scene alongside the interior minister Gérald Darmanin. MPs in the national parliament held a minute’s silence as news of the attack broke in the French media.
Another witness told local public radio, France Bleu, that the attacker had seem “confused”. Some politicians on the right and far-right called for more scrutiny of France’s immigration and asylum policy, seizing on the suspected attacker’s identity as a refugee.
One witness, named as Nelly, told France Info radio: “People were running, crying, panicking … it was horrible.” “The investigation will determine what happened, but it seems like the culprit has the same profile that you see often in these attacks,” the head of the rightwing Républicains party, Éric Ciotti, told reporters at parliament. “We need to draw conclusions without being naive, with strength and with a clear mind.”
The Haute-Savoie MP, Virginie Duby-Muller, told BFMTV: “I’m horrified … attacking children is abominable. It’s unthinkable what happened here this morning in a place which is so calm and peaceful, a place loved by residents and tourists alike. We’re shaken.” Jordan Bardella, head of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party, the biggest single opposition party in parliament, tweeted that French immigration policy and European rules should be reviewed.
National police, rather than anti-terrorist investigators, are heading the investigation. Police originally said six children had been injured. Asked for her view on politicians who responded to the attack by saying France should tighten its immigration policy, Borne said all light should be shed on the investigation but that today was the “time for emotion” and she was in Annecy to express the support and solidarity of the nation.
The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, tweeted that the suspect “has been arrested thanks to the rapid reaction of security forces”.
“Several people including children have been injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy,” he tweeted.
The suspect was a Syrian man in his early 30s who was granted refugee status in Sweden in April, a police source told AFP. Checks on the man, who was arrested at the scene, were ongoing, but he was unknown to French security services, the police source said.
The prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, travelled to the scene alongside Darmanin. MPs in the national parliament held a minute’s silence as news of the attack broke in the French media.