ARRAS (France): Reacting to the fatal stab attack at a high school in Arras, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the country has been hit by the “barbarity of Islamist terrorism”, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
The incident occurred in Arras in northern France on Saturday, where a school teacher was killed and two students were left injured in a stabbing incident at Gambetta-Carnot public school.
The police quickly set up a security perimeter around the school, and the city announced that it was suspending all public events until further notice, The New York Times reported.
Speaking to reporters in Arras, Macron said, “France had been “hit by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism”. “Almost three years to the day after Samuel Paty’s murder, terrorism has struck again in a school”, President Macron said after rushing to the scene.
He further said that the victim was killed in a “brutal and cowardly way”. Macron also praised that teacher and the two people who were injured — another teacher and a school employee — for trying to stop the assailant, The New York Times reported. “We stand together and stand tall,” Macron added.
The Washington Post reported, citing witnesses, that the attacker shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) during the attack. Visegrad 24 news agency also reported, “Man yells ‘Allahu Akbar’ before stabbing a teacher to death and wounding another 2 in a high school in the French city of Arras”.
Notably, the terror group Hamas had declared this Friday as the ‘Global Day of Rage’. This comes as Israel and Hamas are engaged in an intense battle after the latter launched a surprise attack on the former on October 7, launching a barrage of rockets into Israel, leading it to an even stronger counter-offensive.
Earlier, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reacted to the incident stating that the stabbing happened in Arras, a city in northern France. “A police operation took place at the Gambetta High School in Arras. The perpetrator was arrested by the police”, he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
The attacker was allegedly a man of Chechen origin and was known to the security services for his involvement with radical Islam, The Washington Post reported, citing Europe 1, a radio station. It further reported citing French media reports that the attacker was a former student at the school. (ANI)