IIn Paris, an attacker fatally injured three people with shots in a Kurdish cultural center and in shops. French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter: “The Kurds in France were the target of a vile attack in the middle of Paris.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also expressed his sympathy. “A terrible act that shook Paris and France today,” Scholz tweeted on Friday evening in German and French. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families.” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also wrote on Twitter regarding the incident: “Hate must never win.”
France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Friday about the alleged perpetrator: “He obviously wanted to attack foreigners.” According to Darmanin, the motive was initially unknown, but a right-wing background to the crime was checked.
On Friday, a man fatally injured three people with shots in and in front of a Kurdish cultural center as well as a restaurant and a hairdressing salon in the tenth arrondissement of Paris. Three other people were wounded, one critically.
“We saw an old white man who went to the Kurdish center and fired there,” said the chef of a nearby restaurant. The man then fled to a neighboring hairdressing salon. “We took refuge with the staff at the restaurant,” he said. “I saw two police officers go into a hairdressing salon where two people were lying on the ground, their legs were injured,” said a local resident. “There were seven or eight shots, there was panic,” said an eyewitness.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, a suspect was arrested. He too was injured. Accordingly, investigations into intentional killing and serious violence were ongoing.
The alleged perpetrator, a 69-year-old Frenchman, was not registered as a right-wing extremist by the security authorities, Darmanin said. “At the moment I’m speaking, I can’t say that he was known for right-wing extremist acts, even if the findings and the procedure will of course allow us to examine this in the coming hours.” The man acted alone and as a marksman has a number of weapons. “It is not clear if this person is politically involved in any way, although their motivation was obviously an attack on foreigners.”
Darmanin also addressed the fact that the act happened so close to the tenth anniversary of a triple murder of Kurdish activists. Kurdish organizations recently called for an investigation into the triple murder of 2013. A large Kurdish demonstration is planned for January 7 in Paris. According to information from the Berlin-based Kurdish Center for Public Relations, a preparatory meeting for the demonstration was taking place in the Paris Kurdish center at the time of the crime.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Twitter: “The Kurdish community and through it all Parisians have been targeted by these killings committed by a far-right activist.” She demanded: “The Kurds, wherever they live, must live in peace and security. More than ever, Paris stands by her in these dark hours.”
The shots also hit the branch of the Democratic Kurdish Council in France (CDK-F), an umbrella organization of 24 Kurdish associations. As the CDK-F announced, the three fatalities were Kurdish activists, as were the three injured. The organization spoke of a “terrorist attack” that occurred after numerous Turkish threats. Turkey has long fought Kurdish independence aspirations promoted by the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK and other Kurdish organizations.
The CDK-F called for a protest meeting at the site of the attack. In addition, a night watch for the victims should be held in the Kurdish center itself. France now wants to protect Kurdish meeting places. Throughout the country, guards should be posted at gathering places of the Kurdish community, Darmanin said. Turkish diplomatic missions in the country should also be protected to prevent counterattacks.
Almost ten years ago there was an assassination attempt on three Kurdish activists in the tenth arrondissement of Paris. Their bodies were then discovered in the Kurdistan Information Center.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the suspect had only recently been released from custody under judicial supervision. Last year he attacked a migrant tent camp – with a saber, as the newspaper “Le Parisien” reported. The man injured several people there. The broadcaster France Info reported, citing police circles, that the man was known for two attempted killings.
Baerbock expresses sympathy
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne described the attack on Twitter on Friday as a “disgusting act”. She expressed her support for the victims and their families. For victims and witnesses of the bloody attack, the city set up a psychological service at the tenth arrondissement town hall. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also expressed her sympathy. “Hate must never win,” she wrote on Twitter, using the hashtag #Paris.
