French security authorities foil plan to attack
football events during Paris Olympics
France's security authorities have foiled a plan to attack soccer events during the Paris Olympics, the country's interior minister said Friday.
Issued on: 2 min
Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events that will be held in the southern city of Saint-Etienne.
According to the initial investigation, the man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in Saint-Etienne that will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games. The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events “to die and become a martyr," the statement also said.
The Paris Olympics will run from July 26-Aug. 11. Soccer matches will take place in cities across France before the final in Paris’ Stade de France.
France is on high security alert ahead of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which are expected to draw millions of visitors to the country.
Darmanin, the interior minister, did not cite a specific security threat against the soccer event, but said there are multiple potential threats, including those from Islamic extremist groups, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks from Russia or other adversaries.
Security concerns are notably high for the the exceptional opening ceremony, which bring more than 100 world leaders to the French capital. It involves boats carrying athletes along the River Seine on a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) parade and huge crowds watching from the embankments.
In April, French President Emmanuel Macron said the July 26 opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics planned on the River Seine could be moved instead to the country’s national stadium if the security threat is deemed too high.
Macron said France’s law enforcement forces will be mobilized at an exceptional level for the security of the open-air event, "but if we think there are risks, depending on our analysis of the context, we have fallback scenarios.”
Organizers had originally planned a grandiose opening ceremony for as many as 600,000 people, most watching free of charge from riverbanks. But security and logistical concerns have led the government to progressively scale back its ambitions. Earlier this year, the overall number of spectators was reduced to around 300,000.
The French government also decided that tourists won’t be given free access to watch the opening ceremony because of security concerns. Free access will be invitation-only instead.
(AP)
Several wounded in 'terrible' knife attack in Germany, says Scholz
A prominent Islam critic was among six people wounded in a knife attack at a rally in Germany on Friday, drawing immediate condemnation from the nation's leaders.
Issued on: Modified:
The attack, just days before EU-wide elections, comes amid a spike of politically motivated violence in Germany.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser raised the possibility that the assault could be Islamist motivated.
A man with a knife attacked and wounded several people on the market square in the city of Mannheim, around 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Frankfurt in southwest Germany, at around 11:35 am (0935 GMT), police said in a statement.
Five of those wounded were taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, police said.
A police officer who intervened was also stabbed several times in the back of the head, it said.
Officers fired at the attacker and wounded him.
"The extent and severity of the injuries are not yet known," the police said, adding that the identity of the attacker had not yet been determined.
"The images from Mannheim are terrible," Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X, adding that "Violence is absolutely unacceptable in our democracy. The perpetrator must be severely punished."
Pax Europa said on its website that one of the victims was Michael Stuerzenberger, a German far-right activist and blogger, who had been due to take part in the rally.
Stuerzenberger suffered serious stab wounds to his face and also to his leg, the group said.
'Great danger'
Stuerzenberger has been a prominent anti-Islam campaigner in Germany for several years.
The Bavarian security services have accused him of making "Islamophobic statements", and has classed Pax Europa as Islamophobic.
Faeser called for a thorough investigation into the attacker's motive.
"If the investigations reveal an Islamist motive, this would be a further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence," she said in a statement.
Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, with the country's domestic intelligence chief warning that the risk of such assaults is "real and higher than it has been for a long time".
The country had also seen a spate of attacks on politicians at work or on the campaign trail ahead of EU Parliament elections on June 9.
Matthias Ecke, a European parliament lawmaker for Scholz's SPD party, was set upon this month by a group of youths as he put up election posters in the eastern city of Dresden.
Days later, former Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey was hit on the head and neck with a bag as she visited a library in Berlin.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said last week that he was worried by the growing trend and said Germans "must never get used to violence in the battle of political opinions".
(AFP)
And yet, that is a part of Islam. You disagree with them, they become hysterical and try to kill you. They care nothing for democracy or free speech, only Islam.
France: Muslim migrant screaming ‘Allahu akbar’
destroys Catholic cross with his van,
begins Islamic prayer
We are constantly told that we have to learn to be welcoming of migrants, and make them feel at home. But do the migrants incur any obligations on their side? Apparently not.
Loyettes: shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ a man destroys a Catholic cross
translated from “Loyettes : criant « Allahou Akbar », un homme détruit une croix catholique,” by Alexis Bergeron, Le Journal du Dimanche, May 29, 2024 (thanks to Medforth):
A disturbing event occurred in broad daylight in Loyettes (Ain), where a man destroyed a Catholic cross using a van. Around noon, the gendarmerie was alerted by witnesses who observed an individual shouting religious remarks on the public highway, while tearing down a stone cross.
According to reports consulted by the JDD, the man deliberately backed his van against the building, before tying it with a strap and overturning it. Of Turkish origin, the individual shouted “Allahu Akbar” before starting to pray at the scene of the incident.
I'm sure, if Mohammed was alive he would be very proud of this idiot.
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