According to a Kurdish association in France, the dead are Kurdish activists, including a young woman and a musician. In the early evening there were violent clashes between Kurdish demonstrators and security forces nearby.
Darmanin mentioned that the act happened so close to the tenth anniversary of a triple murder of Kurdish activists. However, he emphasized that the exact motive of the individual perpetrator was not known. It is also still open whether the man has connections to the ultra-right scene.
According to information from the public prosecutor’s office, the alleged perpetrator is a 69-year-old Frenchman, a former train driver. He is said to have injured two migrants with a saber and cut up tents in Paris about a year ago. He was therefore in custody, from which he had only been released eleven days ago. He is not on the domestic secret service’s list of endangered persons.
The man was taken into police custody at the scene and taken to hospital with minor injuries. “The possible racist motives of the perpetrator will be the subject of the investigation,” said prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne spoke of a “terrible act” and expressed her condolences to the victims’ families. Reports of shots fired in the street triggered oppressive memories of the jihadist attacks in 2015 in many residents of the capital.
A representative of the Kurdish community in France spoke of a possible “terrorist attack”, behind which Turkey was suspected. Kurdish organizations recently called for an investigation into the triple murder of 2013. A large Kurdish demonstration in Paris is planned for January 7th.
According to information from the Berlin-based Kurdish Center for Public Relations, a preparatory meeting for the demonstration was taking place in the Paris Kurdish center at the time of the crime.
The shots were fired on a small street in the 10th arrondissement. “We saw an old white man who went to the Kurdish center and fired there,” said the chef of a nearby restaurant. The man then fled to a neighboring hairdressing salon. “We took refuge with the staff at the restaurant,” he said.
“I saw two police officers go into a hairdressing salon where two people were lying on the ground, their legs were injured,” said a local resident. “There were seven or eight shots, there is panic,” said an eyewitness.
The public prosecutor’s office is investigating for murder and serious violence. The crime brigade of the judicial police is responsible, not the terror prosecutor’s office, which initially went to the scene of the crime.
The police called for people to avoid the area around Rue d’Enghien. The fire brigade and rescue workers were on duty. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Twitter that she would set up a psychological counseling center for those affected in the 10th arrondissement town hall. She thanked the emergency services and expressed her condolences to the families of the victims.
The Kurdish Center Ahmet Kaya is named after a Kurdish singer. The association is intended to serve the integration of the Kurdish population.
