This is becoming almost a daily occurrence in France. On Saturday, a Kosovar refugee, armed with a knife, attempted to randomly stab a man then a woman on a bike with her two small children. He was eventually overpowered by an off-duty cop whom the suspect also attempted to stab. Once in the police car, the man reportedly was yelling, "Allahu akbar," and at the police station, reportedly told the police that "they were all going to Hell because of what they were doing in Palestine." Yet, the motive for the attack is described as not clear!!
The incident naturally attracted the attention of France's interior minister, Gerald Darmanin ( a very busy man lately) who praised the courageous action of the police officer.
The below article from Le Figaro is translated by Fousesquawk.
Strasbourg: A man armed with a knife attacks passersby before being overpowered by off-duty policeman
By Marie-Iievine- Michalik and Jean Chichizola
Posted January 15, 2023 at 13:21, updated January 15, 2023 at 18:19
The assailant, who spoke Arabic during the acts, tried to stab a man, then a mother accompanied by her two children.
A man armed with a knife randomly strikes....Four days after the attack at Gare du Nord, the scene is repeated, this time in an Alsatian capital still traumatized by the Islamist attack of December 11, 2018. It was around 5 pm, Saturday when a man armed with a knife tried to stab a passerby on Colmar Avenue in the Strasbourg district of Meinau. The latter, frightened, rushed to his car and managed to get away. The attacker then turned to a woman on a bicycle, accompanied by her two young children. Faced with the knife pointed at her, the mother tried to resist and fell to the ground.
An off-duty policeman, seeing the acts, came running. The man, who by chance, was passing by, according to information from the SGP Police Union, tried to overpower the assailant without his service weapon, which was left at the police station. The suspect tried to stab him in the head without success. Only the hood of his jacket was pierced. "They struggled and the policeman succeeded in immobilizing him with the help of a delivery man on a bicycle," states the police source to Figaro. Once the Specialized Field Brigade (BST) arrived, the man was arrested and placed in custody.
Of Kosovar origin, the man, aged 31, was not known to the intelligence services for being radicalized but was listed in the files of previous judicial proceedings, specifically for illicit use of drugs in Seine-Saint Denis on February 16 and November 25, 2021. In the police car, he reportedly was chanting, "Allahu akhbar". Also according to a police source, the assailant reiterated his remarks at the police station adding: "You will all go to Hell because of what you are doing in Palestine". His psychological state is described as "unstable" by a source close to the case. An investigation has been opened and assigned to the Judicial Police.
Attempted homicide is now the likely charge, but a terrorist act is not ruled out. The motives of the assailant remain unclear. He reportedly regrets the attack against the mother but not the attack against the policeman, for whom the doctors have prescribed 45 days of disability time off.
In a state of shock, the mother was taken to the hospital-as was the policeman, who was injured in the hand and shoulder in bringing down the suspect. The Minister of Interior, Gerald Darmanin, praised a "courageous policeman who, while off-duty, arrested a very menacing individual. Thanks to his intervention, there are no victims to mourn."
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