British baby was amongst 4 very younger kids who have been critically injured after being stabbed in a lakeside park within the French Alps.
Two adults have been additionally wounded when the suspect, recognized by police as 31-year-old Syrian, attacked folks with a knife within the city of Annecy on Thursday.
He stabbed a toddler in a pushchair repeatedly as bystanders screamed for assist.
The youngsters, aged between 22 months and three years, are in a “very extreme state” and are in intensive care, in accordance with a neighborhood prosecutor.
The knifeman’s motives stay unclear however don’t seem like associated to terrorism, Line Bonnet-Mathis instructed a press convention.
International Secretary James Cleverly confirmed that one of many kids injured was a British nationwide.
One eye witness, former Liverpool FC striker Anthony Le Tallec, described how he instructed police to shoot the attacker as he ran in direction of him on the park.
Translated to English, Mr Le Tallec, who coaches soccer in Annecy, mentioned in a sequence of Instagram tales: “I might see cops, 5 or 10 metres behind him, who couldn’t catch him. He got here in direction of me, so I moved apart and I noticed him heading in direction of aged folks.
“And he attacked the aged man, stabbed him as soon as and the police have been behind him and couldn’t catch him.
“I instructed the police shoot him, kill him, he’s stabbing everybody.
“So he attacked as soon as, twice, and so they began taking pictures.”
He defined how he noticed the attacker get shot in entrance of him within the park.
He mentioned: “They shot him in entrance of me and he fell to the bottom however the aged man had already been hit.
“I continued alongside the lake and noticed the children on the ground. They’d been hit. It’s very unhappy.”
France is in shock however is “standing agency” after the horrific assault, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne mentioned.
The attacker was a Syrian nationwide who was granted refugee standing in Sweden 10 years in the past, she mentioned.
We’re speaking right here about infants, very younger infants who’ve been very severely injured
She mentioned the person has a toddler who is similar age as the kids he attacked.
He has no prison or psychiatric document and appeared to have acted alone, in accordance with Ms Borne.
“We’re speaking right here about infants, very younger infants who’ve been very severely injured,” she instructed the press convention, in accordance with a translation.
“We’re completely shaken by all this and we’re standing agency by the folks of Annecy.”
Following the assault, Deputy Mayor of Annecy, Chantale Farmer, instructed BBC Information how colleges have been put in “lockdown” to guard kids within the space.
She mentioned: “We attempt to defend the kids as a result of we had colleges round so we locked them down for some time and so we (might) additionally give info to the mother and father and likewise to the folks working in these colleges.
“All of the folks in Annecy are very shocked proper now.”
Ms Farmer defined that psychological assist has been put in place to help those that witnessed the assault, together with a category of schoolchildren who have been within the park on the time.
She mentioned: “We’ve put in place psychological assist, a free cellphone quantity that individuals can cellphone.
“We additionally took into consideration the witnesses and the victims with the hospitals (and) with some medical doctors so they may communicate out.
“We’ve carried out it additionally in a college as a result of there was a category that was doing sport on the sphere in the course of the assault and so we’ve put the psychological assist additionally in that faculty to assist folks to precise and to attempt to discover a approach to assist them, as we are able to.
“The cellphone quantity is on our web site for folks.”
Mr Cleverly, talking at an OECD ministerial council press convention in France hours after the assault, mentioned: “We now have already deployed British consular officers who’re travelling to the world to make themselves out there to help the household.
“And naturally we stand in robust solidarity with the folks of France at this horrible time.”
Police overpowered and arrested the assailant, who’s detained within the Annecy police station.
Video on social media appeared to indicate the assault in a kids’s play park.
Footage confirmed a person in darkish glasses and with a blue scarf protecting his head brandishing a blade as folks screamed for assist.
He first circled the playground, slashing at a bystander, after which climbed over its obstacles to assault folks inside.
A screaming lady was seen making an attempt to push the attacker away from her pram, however he obtained previous her and stabbed into the pushchair repeatedly.
One lady, Eleanor Vincent, who has been within the city for the final 5 days on vacation, was on the scene as police started to cordon off the park.
She instructed Sky Information: “The police have been there in a short time, the world was cordoned off.
“I didn’t see the crime scene thank heavens, however I did see the aftermath as a result of I stayed within the space for about 45 minutes simply making an attempt to absorb what had occurred and to take some images to have the ability to doc what was happening.”
French President Emmanuel Macron described the assault as considered one of “absolute cowardice”.
Of the victims, he mentioned “kids and an grownup are between life and loss of life”.
“The nation is in shock,” he tweeted.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “My ideas are with all of these affected by the stunning assault in Annecy this morning.
Calling it a “really cowardly act”, he mentioned: “The UK and France have at all times stood collectively towards acts of violence, and we achieve this once more right this moment.”
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