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A shooting in the surroundings of a Kurdish cultural center in Paris left three dead and three wounded, according to the authorities. The suspect who had a 69-year-old record was injured and was taken into custody. The Minister of the Interior visited the area, after his arrival the inhabitants of the place clashed with the police.
Three people have died and another is seriously injured after a shooting in front of a Kurdish cultural center located in the center of Paris. The 69-year-old attacker, with a history of racist acts, was arrested, according to the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccau.
Two more people were less seriously injured, as was the alleged perpetrator, who was arrested by police officers and taken to a hospital, according to the district mayor, Alexadra Cordebard.
Several shots were fired on rue d’Enghien as far as the corner of rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, which houses a Kurdish community center, as well as a restaurant and hairdresser, both located directly opposite the community center. “The target was the Kurds,” said Juan-Golan Eliberg, an artist who works in the Kurdish center.
Julien Verplancke, who works at the neighboring restaurant Chez Minna, said staff at the Kurdish restaurant left the premises crying after the shooting.
French President Emmanuel Macron said through his Twitter account that “The Kurds of France have been the target of a heinous attack in the heart of Paris. Thoughts for the victims, for the people who fight to live, for their families and loved ones. Recognition to our law enforcement for their courage and composure.”
Les Kurdes de France ont été la cible d’une odieuse attack au coeur de Paris. Pensées aux victims, aux persons qui luttent pour vivre, à leurs familles et proches. Reconnaissance à nos forces de l’ordre pour leur courage et leur sang-froid.
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 23, 2022
An attacker with a history
Beccau commented that the attacker entered at the end of 2021 with a saber into some tents where immigrants slept in the 12th district of the capital. The man had been provisionally released for these events, but the authorities are looking for other records in the Seine-Saint-Denis department.
“There was an opening of information at the end of 2021 and the person in question had recently been released,” he explained.
The investigation refers to murder and attempted murder, voluntary violent acts and violation of the law on possession of weapons, the prosecutor said. Despite the fact that for now the motives of the alleged perpetrator are unknown, the prosecutor told the press that the “racist motives for the acts” will form “obviously part of the investigations that have just begun.”
At the request of the president, Emmanuel Macron, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, visiting a police station in the north of the country, immediately returned to the capital and visited the scene.
The suspect was a French national, according to BFM TV. Armed police officers continue to monitor the site while investigators surrounded the scene.
A witness told AFP that seven or eight shots had been fired. A second witness, in statements to BFM TV, related that the suspect was a white man who opened fire without saying a word.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, also mentioned on Twitter a “terrible attack” and said that a psychological unit will be opened in the town hall of the 10th arrondissement.
Clashes with the police
After the events, hundreds of people took to the streets in anger to protest against the police while demanding greater security for the community. The police reacted and used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Protesters clashed with the police cordon protecting Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who went to the scene to report on the investigation and speak to journalists.
The mostly Kurdish protesters fired projectiles, burned rubbish bins, damaged at least one vehicle and erected street barricades.
With AFP, AP and Reuters
