Paris: Deadly attack on Kurds

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called the attacker a right-wing extremist and the deadly attack on the Kurdish community an attack on "all Parisians". "No matter where they live, the Kurds must be allowed to live in peace and security." More than ever, Paris is on their side in this dark hour," Hidalgo wrote on Twitter.

French President Emmanuel Macron, also on Twitter, wrote about the "targeted and insidious" attack on the Kurds in the middle of Paris, and that his thoughts are with the victims and their families.

After the murder, Kurdish protesters gathered near the scene of the crime. They shouted slogans against Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan. Soon there was a clash with the police, the protesters threw stones, wheels and torn traffic signs at the police. The police responded with tear gas.

The conflict erupted after French Interior Minister Gérald Darmany visited the scene of the crime and, unlike Macron and Hidalgo, stated that "the motive for the attack is still unclear" and that the perpetrator "clearly wanted to attack foreigners", and that Kurds, that is not known.

Despite that statement, after the attack, police control was increased in places where Kurds gather, as well as in front of Turkish diplomatic and business missions.

The suspect is a 69-year-old Frenchman who was allegedly not known to the police as a member of the right-wing extremist scene. It is assumed that he had no accomplices, and since he was engaged in archery, he owned several weapons.

France Info television, however, reports, citing police sources, that the attacker has attacked foreigners before. "La Parisienne" writes that last year he stormed a refugee camp with a saber and injured several people in the process. He was released from prison in mid-December and was under the supervision of judicial authorities.

JH/Spiegel/BBC