FRANCE
PARIS
Shooting in Paris leaves three Kurdish activists
dead, Macron condemns 'heinous attack'
Three people were also injured in the attack near a
Kurdish cultural center. The shooter, 69, was arrested. He was known for two
previous attempted murders.
Le Monde
with AP and AFP
Published
on December 23, 2022 at 12h58, updated at 20h42 on December 23, 2022
Three
people were killed and three injured in a shooting in central Paris on Friday,
December 23, at a Kurdish cultural center and a hairdressing salon. The three
people killed were Kurdish activists.
"An
investigation has been opened on charges of murder, voluntary manslaughter and
aggravated violence," prosecutors said. Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau
said three people hit in the shooting have died, one is in critical condition
and two others are hospitalized with less serious injuries. The attacker was
also wounded in the face, she said.
French
President Emmanuel Macron reacted to the shooting in a tweet, deploring the
"heinous attack in the heart of Paris." He also thanked the French
"police forces for their courage and composure."
Skirmishes
erupted in the neighborhood a few hours after the shooting, as members of the
Kurdish community shouted slogans against the Turkish government, and police
fired tear gas to disperse the increasingly agitated crowd.
According
to a police source who spoke to Agence France-Presse, five policemen were injured
in during the incidents. One person was arrested in the capital.
Interior
Minister Gérald Darmanin said the attacker was clearly targeting foreigners,
but that police don't have evidence at this stage that he was specifically
aiming to hurt Kurds. Mr. Darmanin is holding a special meeting Friday night to
assess threats targeting the Kurdish community in France.
Shocked
members of the Kurdish community in Paris said they had been recently warned by
police of threats to Kurdish targets, and demanded justice after the shooting.
The attack
took place at Ahmet-Kaya Kurdish cultural center. Agit Polat, a spokesperson
for the center, said: "Once more, French authorities were unable to
protect us," in reference to an attack in January 2013 that killed three
Kurds. "For us, this is a terrorist attack. It takes place in a climate of
tension knowingly fed by Turkey."
The CDKF
urged the French authorities to stop their "cooperation with the Turkish
intelligence services," but acknowledged that Paris had not yet determined
the suspect as a terrorist. Today's shooting has not, at this stage, been
linked to Ankara.
The shots
heard shortly before midday caused panic in the rue d'Enghien – in the trendy
10th arrondissement of the capital, a bustling area of shops, restaurants and
bars that is home to a large Kurdish population.
A woman who
lives in the neighborhood told Le Monde she heard "four detonations around
11:40 am", and "two or three shots" a few minutes later. She
said she saw bodies in front of the nearby Kurdish cultural center.
'Targeting foreigners'
Witnesses
told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the gunman, described by police as white
and previously charged with racist violence, initially targeted the Kurdish
cultural center before entering a hairdressing salon where he was arrested by
police.
The Kurdish
community center is used by a charity that organizes concerts and exhibitions
and helps the Kurdish diaspora in the Paris region.
Prime
Minister Elisabeth Borne called the attack "odious" in a tweet,
saying: "Thoughts and full support to the victims of the deadly shooting
in Paris and their relatives." Mathilde Panot, parliamentary head of the
hard-left La France Insoumise party, immediately pointed the finger at the
far-right, calling it a "racist attack."
Some
members of the Kurdish center could be seen weeping and hugging each other for
comfort. "It's starting again. You aren't protecting us. We're being
killed!" one of them cried to nearby police.
Tighter security
The Kurdish
Democratic Council of France (CDK-F), which uses the cultural center as its
headquarters, called for a demonstration to be held at Place de la République
in Paris on Saturday at midday.
The CDK-F
underlined that the shooting coincided with the 10th anniversary of the murder
of three female Kurdish militants in Paris. A Turkish man was charged with the
assassinations on January 9, 2013, but he died in custody before being tried.
The
victims' families have long pointed the finger at Turkey for masterminding the
deaths of the three women, who were shot in the head and neck, and at France
for failing to investigate properly.
Asked
whether any of the victims in Friday's shooting had links to the Kurdish PKK
movement, designated a terrorist organization by the EU and others, Mr.
Darmanin said they appeared not to have been known to France's security
services. He said he had ordered tighter security at Kurdish meeting places in
France, as well as at Turkish diplomatic offices.
Often
described as the world's largest people without a state, the Kurds are a
Muslim, but non-Arab ethnic group spread across Syria, Iraq and Iran, which has
faced persecution and violence.
News of the
shooting sent nerves jangling in a city that has been repeatedly targeted by
Islamist terror groups since 2015.
Le Monde
with AP and AFP
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