The incident took place shortly before 4: 00pm (15: 00 GMT) during a demonstration on Saturday in the city of Mulhouse, French channel BFM TV said on Saturday, citing the local prosecutor’s office.
A passer-by was killed trying to intervene, while three police officers were injured, the prosecutor’s office added.
France’s national anti-terror prosecutors unit (PNAT) has taken charge of the investigation. Military vehicles have also been dispatched as backup, and police have established a security parameter at the scene. Additionally, forensic scientists have begun looking for proof.
Mulhouse public prosecutor Nicolas Heitz has told the AFP news agency that the suspect, aged 37, is on a “terror” prevention watchlist, called FSPRT. Following the deadly attacks on a Jewish supermarket and the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, it was introduced in 2015.
“Horror has seized our city”, Mulhouse mayor Michele Lutz said on Facebook.
The stabbing was referred to as “Islamist terrorism,” according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron stated to reporters on the sidelines of the annual French farm show that “it is unquestionably an act of Islamist terrorism.” He added that the interior minister was traveling to Mulhouse as he addressed reporters.
“Fanatis has struck again, and we are in mourning,” declared Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.
Source: Aljazeera
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