Six people, including four children, were stabbed on Thursday by an individual in a park near Annecy (Haute-Savoie). “The Nation is in shock. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the mobilized rescue services”, reacted in the morning Emmanuel Macron on Twitter, denouncing an “attack of absolute cowardice”. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is expected on site during the day, announced Matignon. “The individual was arrested thanks to the very rapid intervention of the police,” also communicated the Ministry of the Interior. According to information from Le Figaro, he was an “asylum seeker” of Syrian nationality.
The debates gave way to excitement in the National Assembly, where the deputies immediately observed a minute of silence at the request of Yaël Braun-Pivet. As she was preparing to issue a point of order within the framework of the examination of the bill to repeal the pension reform, the leader of the rebellious deputies, Mathilde Panot, wanted to share her “emotion”. “Being in the hemicycle at the moment with a kind of battle of rag pickers on the admissibility or not of amendments seems to us to be totally out of step with the dread that overwhelms our country”, reacted the president of the Renaissance group, Aurore Bank.
LIVE – Children injured in Annecy: Emmanuel Macron denounces the “absolute cowardice” of the attack
The attack targeting young children sparked misunderstanding in the political class. “How is it possible ? Attacking little ones! Hit them with a knife!”, was indignant the rebellious leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “Words are powerless when children are attacked,” commented ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, addressing her “solidarity” to the families of the children affected.
Also on social networks, the president of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti, expressed his “tremendous emotion” and “his great anger”. At the head of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (AURA), where the city of Annecy is located, Laurent Wauquiez sent all his “support” to the victims and their relatives: “This attack on children is the summit of the abomination.”
The profile of the assailant was also quickly pointed out by the nationalist right, linking this drama to immigration. “Barbarism struck this morning in Annecy during an attack (…) perpetrated by what would be a migrant seeking Syrian asylum”, reacted the president of the National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella. “When we attack children, it is innocence that we are attacking, and it is all of France that we are bruising,” he warned. For her part, Marine Le Pen was content to send her “thoughts” to the victims and their relatives.
The boss of Reconquête, Éric Zemmour, meanwhile denounced what he considers to be “Francocides”, that is to say a murder because of French nationality. “Our children are in mortal danger and we are looking elsewhere. Until when?” he asked. In front of the minute of silence observed in the National Assembly, the vice-president of the party, Guillaume Peltier, summoned the elected officials to be “courageous” and to act “finally against mass immigration and conquering Islamism” .