A Portuguese man is one of six injured in the knife attack in Annecy, in the French Alps, television station TF1 said on Friday, confirming the Portuguese government.
It is Manuel, 72 years old, who was accidentally stabbed and shot by French police when the alleged perpetrator of the attack, which took place in a park in Annecy on Thursday morning, was arrested, the television channel reports.
during the tragic event a Portuguese national, while trying to prevent the attacker from fleeing from the police, was seriously injured and is now out of danger.” refers to the note from the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“For the act of courage and bravery, a word of deep appreciationthe statement continues.
The government says all monitoring of the situation is being carried out “through the Consulate General of Portugal in Lyon” and “with the local authorities and the hospital, as well as providing all necessary support to this citizen”.
The executive headed by António Costa “deplores the knife attack incident that took place yesterday at a children’s playground in Annecy, in the French Alps, and expressed all solidarity with the injured children and adults, as well as their families”, it can be read if it is still in the note.
Two of the four children injured in the attack are still in “critical condition” and one adult is still injured.
According to the French authorities, one of the children is 22 months old, two are two years old and a fourth is three. Among the minors, there is one with Dutch nationality and another with British nationality.
French President Emmanuel Macron traveled with his wife to the French Alps this Friday to visit the victims of this attack, which he called an act of “absolute cowardice”.
The alleged perpetrator of the attack has been identified as Abdalmasih H. He is 32 years old, has Syrian nationality, is an asylum seeker and has had refugee status in Sweden for 10 years. “He has no criminal record” or psychiatric history, said French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
The suspect in the attack, recently divorced from a Swedish national, obtained refugee status in Sweden ten years ago. He has been in France since 2022, after submitting an asylum application to the authorities, which was eventually rejected.
The motives that led him to carry out this attack are not yet known, but the Annecy prosecutor has ruled out a terrorist motive for the time being. The suspect is in custody and will undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
According to a video consulted by AFP, the attacker said “in the name of Jesus Christ” twice in English during the attack and was carrying a crucifix when he was arrested, presenting himself as a “Christian from Syria”.
Source: DN
