Terrorism, or The Fear of Terrorism is The New Normal for The West

France

2 Women murdered, terrorist shot dead

French soldiers shoot dead knife attacker who, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’, killed 2 in Marseille

Two people have been killed during a knife attack at a Marseille train station, according to police. The assailant, who was reportedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ was shot dead by an army patrol at the scene.

The incident took place at the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille on Sunday, when a man attacked passers-by with a knife. One person was killed by the assailant at the scene, while another succumbed a short while after, according to police chief Olivier de Mazières.

The attacker, who was reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar,” was shot dead by an army patrol. At least two shots were fired, local media reported, citing witnesses. The attacker is described as a man in his late twenties, who was not carrying any ID. The investigation team is currently running his fingerprints through their databases. The initial findings indicate that the attacker was known to the police as a common criminal, local media report citing police sources.

Both of the attacker’s victims were women, the French interior ministry said.  One of the victims had her throat slit, while the other was stabbed in her stomach, French media report, citing police sources. The victims were 17 and 20-years-old, according to media reports.

The incident is being treated as a “terrorist act” and anti-terror prosecutors have launched an investigation, BFM TV reports, citing the prosecutor’s office.

The authorities have praised the soldiers who killed the assailant for their swift actions which prevented more casualties.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has denounced the “barbarous” attack, sending his condolences to the relatives of the two victims. “Deeply upset by this barbarous act, I share the pain of the families and relatives of the victims of Marseille,” Macron tweeted. “I salute the soldiers of Sentinel and the police officers who reacted with composure and efficiency.”

“We have generally avoided these sort of attacks in Marseille,” regional president Renaud Muselier told BFM TV at the site of the attack. “I think the security services responded extremely quickly. It's difficult to do more because when you see the distance between the two bodies and the attacker it's only 10 meters, so they intervened quickly.”

"If the military had not been there, we would have had a lot more deaths," lawmaker for the Marseille region Samia Ghali told France Bleu Province radio.

The army patrol which shot the knife-wielding attacker is a part of Operation Sentinel, aimed to bolster country’s security. The operation was launched amid a national state of emergency, which was declared following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. The events were the deadliest terrorist acts in country’s history, and left over 130 people dead.

There has been lately a surge in the so-called “lone-wolf” attacks, similar to the today’s incident in Marseille. The Sentinel patrols themselves have also been targeted by terrorists, as at least seven attacks on patrolling soldiers have taken place.

Despite the state of emergency, which has been renewed six times so far, the country still experiences frequent terrorism-related incidents. The latest extension was in July and is expected to last until November 1.

And, almost certainly will be extended again and again. This is the New Normal for France.

Canada

Five hurt as Edmonton attacks spark terror investigation

By Madison Park, CNN

(CNN)Canadian authorities say two incidents in Edmonton are being investigated as acts of terrorism after a man struck a police officer with a car before stabbing him and later plowed a truck into pedestrians on a busy street, injuring at least four people.

A suspect, who has not been identified, is in custody, said Chief Rod Knecht of the Edmonton Police Service in an early Sunday news conference.

Knecht said authorities believe the man acted alone, but haven't ruled out the possibility that others might be involved.

The first incident happened Saturday at 8:15 p.m. (10:15 p.m. ET) when the driver of a white Chevrolet Malibu drove it into a traffic barricade. Police had set up the roadblock near Commonwealth Stadium for an Edmonton Eskimos football game.

A man drove the car at high speed, striking the police officer who had been standing between a traffic barricade and his cruiser.

"The vehicle struck the police officer, sending him flying into the air 15 feet, before colliding with the police officer's cruiser again at a high rate of speed," Knecht said.

The driver jumped out of the vehicle, attacked and stabbed the officer several times with a knife and fled on foot, Knecht said.

There was an ISIS flag in the car, which has been seized as evidence, the police chief said.

The wounded officer was taken to a hospital. His injuries are not critical, Knecht said.

After that incident, police broadcast the name of the Chevrolet's registered owner to patrol officers in the city.

Just before midnight, a police officer stopped a U-Haul truck at a checkpoint and recognized the driver's name as similar to that of the Chevrolet's registered owner. The U-Haul truck then sped off towards downtown Edmonton with police chasing it.

The U-Haul traveled on busy Jasper Avenue, which late Saturday night and early Sunday morning was full of football fans and bargoers, reported CNN partner CBC. During the chase, the truck deliberately attempted to hit pedestrians in crosswalks and alleys in two areas along Jasper Avenue," Knecht said.

At least four pedestrians were injured. Their conditions were not immediately known, the police chief said.

The truck eventually flipped, ending the chase. Pictures in the Canadian media showed the U-Haul on its side with the front window shattered. Police are expected to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. Sunday.

This is not common in Canada, however, it is becoming more so and will continue to get worse. This affects all Canadians. Last night, someone very close to me was on Jasper Ave., when the incident occurred. Fortunately, she was not near the calamity.

Switzerland

Crackdown on Swiss mosques: Safety strategy, discrimination or waste of tax money? 

A general view shows the Mahmud Mosque in Zurich © Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

Why does the Swiss government want to enforce strict rules and regulations in mosques? Will it have any positive effects on safety in Switzerland? Or does the new bill discriminate against Muslims?

Nils Fiechter, co-president of the youth wing of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and Ajmal Masroor, imam, broadcaster and politician unpack these contentious issues after the Swiss lower house of the Federal Assembly voted in favor of new legislation, prohibiting all mosques to receive foreign funding or preaching in Arabic.

If it becomes law, mosques will have to declare where they get their money from and report how they use it, along with conducting all prayers in one of the country’s four official national languages.

“What we do need to have is of course a measure of responsibility, and this should be self-regulated,” Masroor said. “Government doesn’t need to enforce any rules and regulations, when it comes to speeches, sermons. We don’t do that with churches, we don’t do that with any other faith leaders or institutions. The clerics should be free to speak their mind.”

Masroor believes forcing imams to preach only in local languages is discriminatory and will be a “waste of taxpayers’ money and government’s own time.” He criticized a series of Swiss “draconian anti-muslim laws,” including the ban on the construction of new minarets and ban on the full-face veils.

“In a multicultural pluralistic democracy, such as Switzerland, this to me sound like and appear as secular fundamentalism, if nothing else, overly and extremely discriminatory towards Muslims,” he said.

Nils Fiechter in his turn argued that “this new bill here in Switzerland is not against Muslims – it is against radical Islamic terrorists...”

“In Europe and also in Switzerland we have got a massive problem with radical Islamists – and you have to name that term, ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ We want that our policemen and our investigators have the possibility to understand what those imams are preaching. If they don’t have the possibility, if they only hear Arabic words, or words they don’t understand, then there is big safety problem for Switzerland.”

Masroor argued that Swiss police in the streets also don’t understand what regular Arab tourists are talking about in the streets, emphasizing that such limitations will be a step towards “criminalizing the Arabic language.”

Nils parried, saying that Switzerland is not part of the EU and has its own independent “safety strategy,” which has so far proved to be quite effective.

“Switzerland until now is one country in Europe that didn’t have a terrorist attack, and we want to keep that situation,” he stated. “Our target is to punish those who don’t accept our law and our order. We are a state, which wants to have strict laws. We don’t want to have radical Islamists get control above those imams, over mosques here in Switzerland."

This 'crackdown' should be the New Normal for all of Europe, but most EU countries don't have the stomach for such common sense measures.

Austria

Austrian burqa ban takes effect ahead of general election

Austria could see an anti-immigration government take form

Women in Burkas, Vienna, Austria. © Education Images / Getty Images

Austria’s controversial ban on the wearing of Islamic face veils in public places came into effect Sunday. Those found in breach of the ‘Anti-Face-Veiling Act’ will be subject to fines of €150.

The country approved the ban on face veils back in May as part of a wider ‘integration law’ which, according to officials, is aimed at encouraging people to assimilate into Austrian culture.

The country joins France and Belgium in banning the burqa, with a similar measure going through the motions in the Dutch parliament. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also called for a similar ban "wherever legally possible.”

"Acceptance and respect of Austrian values are basic conditions for successful cohabitation between the majority Austrian population and people from third countries living in Austria," the government has stated, according to AFP.

Authorities claim the act is “religiously neutral,” with other forms of face covering also prohibited. People caught wearing off-slope ski masks, surgical masks outside hospitals and party masks/make-up could also be subjected to a fine.

The law does exempt people who cover their faces for medical or safety reasons, including hazardous weather conditions such as smog. Participants of street carnivals and other “artistic, cultural or traditional events” are also exempt, along with athletes requiring face-covering gear.

"Whoever wears [a] niqab or burqa in Austria has to deal with the consequence," said Austria's Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz, who was instrumental in drafting the law, as cited by Reuters.

The Austrian Islamic Religious Community (AIRC) has said they are “strongly opposed” to the ban and that it is not conducive to integration, reports RTL.

“This open society is, in a hypocritical way, endangering its own values,” Carla Amina Bhagajati of the AIRC said, adding that in Vienna only a “handful” of women will be affected. Those that are, she said, are now “criminalized and... restricted to their homes,” according to AP.

French-Algerian businessman, Rachid Nekkaz, has promised to pay any fines incurred by Muslim women choosing to wear the veil. Nekkaz already pays fines for Muslim women wearing face veils in other European countries. He even established a special organization called “Touche pas à ma constitution” (Do not touch my constitution) that settles these bills.

Other facets of the integration law include immigrants signing an “integration contract” and taking compulsory courses in German language and “values.”

With an election in Austria scheduled for October 15, immigration is an important topic for leading parties. The anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPÖ) are expected to place second or third, potentially forming a government with the conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP), ousting the Social Democratic Party, the current leading coalition partner.

OVP, headed up by Kurz, has drawn voters from the FPÖ with his anti-immigration rhetoric.

"The immigration seen in recent years is changing our country not in a positive but in a negative way," Kurz told German television earlier this week, according to AFP.