France raised its alert level on Friday after an attack at a school in the city of Arras, in northeastern France, the AFP the office of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
The level was raised after a security meeting attended by the president Emmanuel Macronthe office said. Early Friday, a man of Chechen origin stabbed a teacher to death and seriously injured two other adults in the city of Arras.
This alert level, the highest in the French security systementails “maximum vigilance and protection in the event of an imminent threat of a terrorist act or immediately after an attack,” according to Franceinfo.
According to the French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, “there is no concrete threat” of an attack, although he has argued that this measure occurs due to the existence of “an extremely negative atmosphere.”
Darmanin has stressed that, with this decision, the Government seeks “tell all French people and all administrations to be careful”. The anti-terrorist alert also allows for strengthening the capabilities of the French Police.
Thus, the Minister of the Interior regretted what happened this morning at the institute in northern France and recognized that the authorities must be “even firmer” and “protect even more” the population.
In this sense, the person in charge of the Interior portfolio has acknowledged that the Government has information that shows that “there is without a doubt” a link between the attack on the institute and the current situation in the Middle East.
Minister Darmanin has confirmed on social networks the arrest of the alleged perpetrator of the attack, without going into further details. The assailant, in his 20s, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is Great), according to sources cited by public television and who have also pointed out the Chechen origin of the suspect.
The Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed the formal opening of an investigation, a step that is not usually taken if from the first moment it is considered that it is an event without any type of political motivation.
The author is of Chechen origin and was registered by the authorities in the national security registrysaid another police source.
The students and staff of the high school were confined to the center. “Remain calm and follow the instructions to facilitate the return to a normal situation,” the prefecture wrote in X.
The Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) announced the opening of an investigation for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterpriseamong others.
security forces They cordoned off the area around the centerwhere firefighters and lifeguards were also deployed. The parents of the students were also stationed in front of the high school.
A philosophy professor who witnessed the attack, Martin Dousseaudescribed a movement of panic during a break between classes, when the students found themselves face to face with the armed man.
“I wanted to go down to intervene. He turned to me, chased me and asked me if he was a Geography and History teacher.“, indicated the man, who specified that the victim was a French teacher at the center.
“We barricaded ourselves, then the police arrived and restrained him.”, he assured.
(With information from AFP and EP)
Source-www.infobae.com