Knife attack in Annecy, live: the news concerning the state of health of the injured children “is positive”, assures Macron
What we know about the knife attack in Annecy at 10:30 a.m.
A man armed with a knife sowed terror on Thursday morning June 8 in a park on the shores of Lake Annecy, seriously injuring several children, before being arrested.
State of health of the victims: two are still “in a vital emergency”
At least six people, including four children aged 22 months to 3 years – two Frenchmen, a Dutchman and an Englishman – were injured. Two miners are still “in vital emergency” Friday, according to government spokesman Olivier Véran.
A 78-year-old man was also lightly hit by police trying to arrest the assailant.
The suspect: “A political refugee who would be homeless, arrived in Annecy in the fall of 2022”
The alleged perpetrator is a man born in 1991 of Syrian nationality, Abdelmasih H., who lived for ten years in Sweden, where he obtained refugee status in 2013. According to his ex-wife, he left Sweden before to receive the response to their last application for naturalization, “eight months ago”.
The alleged assailant, “a political refugee who would be homeless, arrived in Annecy in the fall of 2022” was not “neither under the influence of narcotics nor under the influence of alcohol”declared the prosecutor of the Republic of Annecy, Line Bonnet-Mathis, in front of the press, Thursday.
“For reasons that are not well explained, he also applied for asylum in Switzerland, Italy and France”, reported the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on TF1. On November 28, 2022, he submitted an asylum application to the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra), the refusal of which was notified to him on Sunday June 4 because he had obtained refugee status in Sweden. Asked about the link between the refusal of the asylum application and the acting out of the aggressor four days later, the Minister mentioned a “disturbing coincidence”.
In his application to the Ofpra, he presented himself as a “Syrian Christian”, according to a police source. His name also did not appear in any police file, he was not known to“no intelligence service” and has no“identified psychiatric history”, according to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne. A psychiatric assessment is scheduled today.
Legal procedure: custody and “no apparent terrorist motive”
The prosecutor announced the placement in police custody of the man in the premises of the Annecy police station for attempted murder. At this stage, there is “no apparent terrorist motive”she clarified.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) “assessed” Thursday night again “in view of the elements in [sa] possession “.