Just a taste of what’s been reported, mostly in France, over the past few days:
French Police Shoot Man Yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’ While Firing Shotgun Towards Them[Breitbart] A man wielding a shotgun in the centre of the French city of Saint-Quentin was shot and injured this week after firing toward police while yelling “Allahu akbar!” Investigators have not ruled out a possible terror motive.
The armed man, said to be 40 years old, was allegedly firing his shotgun in the centre of the city of Saint-Quentin at dawn on Thursday, as witnesses called police and informed them that the man was firing his shotgun without any identifiable target.
When police arrived on the scene, the man allegedly fired his weapon in their direction while yelling “Allahu akbar” but did not hit anyone, according to the local prosecutor’s office. The officers then shot back at the man and hit him in the shoulder, newspaper Le Parisien reports.
Despite being shot in the shoulder, police were still forced to deploy an electric pulse gun to finally subdue him.
Following the man’s arrest, he was immediately taken to a local hospital in Amiens with serious life-threatening injuries. The man is not said to be known to investigators or to French intelligence but the prosecutor’s office has stated that a possible terror motive had not yet been ruled out.
Young Teen Held Knife to Educator’s Throat to Avoid Going on School Trip to Senegal
[Breitbart] A 13-year-old has been indicted by a French court for attempted murder after he allegedly pulled a knife on an educator driving him to an airport to avoid a flight to Senegal.
The teen pulled a knife on an educator who was driving him to a local airport in the city of Nîmes on August 16th as he was scheduled to engage in a three-month trip to the African country of Senegal. The trip was organised by the Aide Sociale à l’Enfance (ASE), France’s child welfare agency, as a means to broaden the horizons of the teen. The 13-year-old, however, did not wish to go to the African country and pulled the knife on the educator, placing it under his neck, Midi Libre reports. Eventually, the educator was able to diffuse the tension and pulled over to the side of the road along a motorway in Lançon-de-Provence. The local gendarmes were then alerted and soon arrived on the scene and arrested the youth.
On Thursday, a local judge indicted the 13-year-old for the attempted murder of a person entrusted with a public service mission and placed him in pre-trial detention at the request of the local prosecutor.
Attacks and threats toward educators in France have been a major issue for years. In 2020, the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty by a jihadist Chechen refugee shocked the country. Following the death of Paty, who was killed for showing pictures of the Islamic prophet Mohammed to his class during a lesson on freedom of expression, police arrested another man in Essonne who was overheard saying he wanted to “avenge” Mohammed.
“The man said to those present: ‘By Allah, the prophet, I will avenge you, these filthy teachers will pay for it,’” a police source said at the time.
Illegal Migrant Chases Tourists on Paris Metro With Box Cutter
[Breitbart] An illegal migrant from Algeria who had only been in France for seven months was sentenced to four months in prison after robbing and chasing tourists on the Paris metro armed with a box cutter.
The Algerian, 28-year-old Amine D., was arrested along with an accomplice on Friday in Paris and sentenced to four months in prison on Tuesday by the criminal court of Paris.
The incident took place at the Antwerp station on Line 2 of the Paris metro when a police officer noticed tourists and two young men in some sort of struggle. One of the young men then pulled out a box cutter and threatened the tourists before fleeing, Le Parisien reports.
The policeman then followed the pair onto the subway where the young men attempted to attack a woman after the train arrived at the Barbes station. The woman fled, and the pair then made their way onto Line 4.
At the Strasbourg-Saint-Denis metro station, the two snatched a mobile phone from a woman but three police were at the station waiting for them as they tried to make their escape. The Algerian attempted to throw away his box cutter but was arrested along with his accomplice.
The Algerian, claimed to be a minor, denied he was armed during the incident, telling the court: “Yes, I stole that phone. But I was unarmed and I was alone. I have no choice because I have been on the street since I was released from prison.”
According to Le Parisien, the Algerian was released from prison in July — evidently he was not deported — and has only been in France for a total of seven months overall. His prior conviction was also for theft while aboard public transport.
Migrants from North African countries such as Algeria have made up a disproportionate number of the arrests of minors in Paris in recent years, with French politicians Jean-François Eliaou and Antoine Savignat presenting a report last year that revealed that around 10 per cent of minor migrants were engaged in crime and that North Africans from countries like Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria made up the majority.
EU Commission Promotes Islamic Youth Org with Alleged Ties to Muslim Brotherhood
[Breitbart] The European Commission has come under criticism over its decision to promote an Islamic youth organisation with alleged ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood organisation. French broadcaster CNews revealed on Thursday that, earlier this month, an Instagram post celebrating International Youth Day from the European Commission featuring Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had promoted the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO).
The Forum Of European Muslim Youth And Student Organisations was founded in 1996 and has gone on to open up an office in Brussels, the main seat of power of the European Union. The organisation was founded under the banner of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), the European arm of the Global Muslim Brotherhood political network, alleges the director of the programme on extremism at George Washington University, Lorenzo Vidino.
FEMYSO, for its part, has denied that it is connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming that suggestions attesting to such a connection are merely fabrications of the “far right” meant to discredit the group.
CNews claimed that despite its alleged connections with the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by multiple countries, FEMYSO has received at least €210,000 (£178,000/$211,000) in public funding from the EU since 2007. The funding is ironic given that the Muslim youth organisation has openly opposed liberal reforms in Europe, such as the prohibition of full face veil burqas in public in France.
Migrant Indicted for Raping and Robbing Prostitutes in Paris No-Go Zone
[Breitbart] A 28-year-old man from Mali has been indicted for raping prostitutes in the no-go Paris suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis last month and robbing them afterwards.
The incidents are said to have taken place last month in July in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis but the Malian migrant was not taken into custody until last Friday, when he was intercepted as investigators believed he was heading to Charles-de-Gaulle airport on the Paris metro.
On Tuesday, the Malian was indicted by a local judge for “rape of people engaging in prostitution” and “robbery with violence” after being held in police custody for around 96 hours, Actu 17 reports.
The man is believed to have raped both of his victims and then robbed them while holding them at knifepoint, according to investigators of the departmental service of the judicial police of Seine-Saint-Denis (SDPJ).
After police arrested the Malian on Friday afternoon he gave officers a false identity, with a source close to the investigation telling Actu 17: “When he understood that he was being arrested, he finally gave his true identity, before being taken into custody in the premises of the SDPJ.”
Police Confront Man Wielding Samurai Sword Inside French Mosque
[Breitbart] A man, said to suffer from some form of mental illness, was arrested by French police this week after bursting into a mosque while armed with a samurai-style katana sword.
The man, who is said to be a “familiar face” around the Light of Dawn Mosque in the Northern French commune of Feignies, burst into the mosque at around 2 p.m. on Tuesday while wielding a katana sword and reportedly made “incoherent remarks” — but did not engage in violence.
Members of the mosque alerted police to the presence and behaviour of the man and officers arrived on the scene minutes later, taking the man into custody without incident, the newspaper La Voix du Nord reports.
Attacks on mosques in France are relatively rare compared to attacks on Christian churches which, according to a 2019 report, average around three per day.
In recent years, however, there have been some serious attacks on mosques, including in 2019 in Bayonne, when an 84-year-old man was arrested after trying to set fire to the door of a local mosque and then shooting two men who surprised him during the act.