Protests in Paris after gunman kills 3

paris, December 23

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A gunman shot dead three people at a Kurdish cultural centre and nearby Kurdish cafe in central Paris on Friday, prompting scores of protesters to take to nearby streets.

France to reinforce protection of Kurdish community sites

• French government tells police to reinforce protection of Kurdish community sites in the country
• Exact motives of the attacker, a French national who “as things stand” acted alone, unknown
• French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, to visit the scene of “dramatic” shooting incident

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspected assailant had clearly wanted to target foreigners, but there was no evidence yet that he had picked out Kurds specifically.

Multiple gunshots were fired on Rue d’Enghien at about midday, sowing panic on a street lined with small shops and cafes in the French capital’s busy 10th district.

All three of the deceased victims were Kurdish, a lawyer for the Kurdish cultural centre said.

As evening fell, riot police fired teargas to push back an angry crowd a short distance from the scene of the shootings as projectiles were thrown at officers, rubbish bins and restaurant tables overturned and at least one car damaged.

Authorities said they had arrested a 69-year-old man, who Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a sabre attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.

Juan-Golan Eliberg, an artist who works at the Kurdish centre, said the shooter had targeted Kurds.

Eyewitness Mehmet Dilek told said he first heard gunshots and then cries coming from inside a barber’s shop opposite the cultural centre. Bystanders subdued the gunman when he had to reload his firearm, Dilek added.

“It might be shocking for someone who has never had a worry in their life. But we grew up under the threat of arms and bombs, this is how life is for us Kurds,” he continued. The shootings were a “terrible drama”, district mayor Alexandra Cordebard told reporters. One of those wounded had suffered life-threatening injuries, she said.

France’s Kurds have become the target of a “heinous” attack, President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet after a gunman earlier had killed three people at a Kurdish community centre in central Paris.

“The Kurds of France have been the target of a heinous attack in the heart of Paris. Our thoughts are with the victims, the people who are struggling to live, their families and loved ones”, Macron said in a tweet. — Reuters