Lac d’Annecy in France
Knife attack on children: eyewitness video shows disturbing images – man stands in the way of the perpetrator
Knife attack at 10 a.m.: A passer-by filmed the attack on a child and the perpetrator.
© Screenshot / star
A man stabbed small children in a playground in Annecy, France, before being overpowered by police. An eyewitness video captured part of the attack on camera.
They are disturbing images. Not gory or excessively brutal – but that’s exactly why they seem so unreal. Standing behind trees, an unknown person filmed a bearded man with sunglasses, black shorts, a black long-sleeved shirt, white sneakers and a long, blue headscarf waving a knife next to a playground: he raises his arm, there are screams listen. At one point it looks like he’s picking up a headset cord.
Annecy: passer-by blocks the man’s way
Shortly thereafter, a man passes by and the attacker points his knife at him, but he reacts immediately and throws his backpack at him. The gunman dodges and runs away, returning straight to the playground, running towards a woman and her child sitting in the wagon. Although the mother tries to push him away, he manages to stab the small child twice. Exactly at this moment, a man who is no longer quite young slides down the slide right next to him.
The gunman paces back and forth on the playground, twice approaching the mother and her child. But the man with the backpack persists and tries to drive the attacker away. He then leaves the playground, irritatingly calm. Another video shows the pursuer, possibly a tourist, dropping his second backpack to catch up with the man with the knife. With his courageous intervention, he probably prevented even worse.
Joggers can be seen several times walking past the scenery. After all, a passer-by took his heart in his hands and tried to oppose the knife attacker.
These scenes, from videos that have since been deleted, show a knife attack in the French Alpine town of Annecy star present. The perpetrator injured a total of four small children an adult. The AFP news agency learned from security circles that the man attacked a group of children in a park near Lac d’Annecy at around 9.45 a.m.
The children were said to be around three years old. At least three victims, including two children, are said to be in mortal danger. Whether the attack was a terrorist attack is currently being checked, it said.
Police shot attackers in the legs
Police officers initially tried to stop the man without shooting at him. “When he realized he was being lured into a trap, he attacked an elderly person and they shot him in the legs,” said an eyewitness. Another eyewitness described “total panic”. “He wanted to attack everyone,” said professional footballer Anthony Le Tallec, who was jogging in the park at the time, the “Dauphiné Libéré”.
He himself had dodged to the side. However, the attacker pounced on an elderly couple and stabbed the elderly man.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the perpetrator was “arrested thanks to the quick response of the security forces”. He is apparently a Christian asylum seeker from Syria. His identity has now been confirmed. The 32-year-old was previously unknown to the police and lived in Sweden for ten years. He has had refugee status since April and was therefore regularly resident in France.
President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack as “absolutely cowardly”. “Our thoughts are with them, their families and the mobilized rescue workers,” Macron said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s office announced that she would travel to the scene of the crime in Annecy. The French parliament held a minute’s silence after the attack became known.