Man Stabs Several People, Including Children, in France, Authorities Say

A knife-wielding man stabbed a number of individuals, together with youngsters, in southeastern France on Thursday, the French authorities stated.

The inside minister, Gérald Darmanin, stated on Twitter that the person had injured a number of individuals in a park in Annecy, a metropolis of about 130,000 individuals in southeastern France. The extent of the accidents and the assailant’s motive weren’t instantly clear, nor was the age of the youngsters he stabbed.

Mr. Darmanin stated {that a} suspect had been arrested.

Antoine Armand, a lawmaker for the Haute-Savoie space, which incorporates Annecy, stated on Twitter that there had been an “abominable knife attack on children in a playground” within the metropolis. “We know very little at this stage,” Mr. Armand stated.

The native authorities stated {that a} police operation was underway on the Jardins de l’Europe, a preferred lakefront park in Annecy, and requested members of the general public to steer clear of the realm.

France’s decrease home of Parliament noticed a minute of silence after news broke of the assault, briefly interrupting fiery debates amongst lawmakers on President Emmanuel Macron’s pension overhaul regulation.

Yaël Braun-Pivet, the speaker of the decrease home, stated the French prime minister was touring to Annecy due to the assault.

“There are very young children who are grievously wounded,” Ms. Braun-Pivet stated.

Terrorist assaults have receded from the headlines in France lately, however the nation remains to be on excessive alert, and the authorities say that the police and intelligence companies recurrently foil plots.

Although the motive for the stabbings on Thursday was unknown, France was struck by large-scale Islamist terrorist assaults in 2015 and in 2016, adopted by a string of smaller however nonetheless lethal shootings and stabbings in subsequent years, typically carried out by lone assailants.

Attacks particularly concentrating on youngsters are uncommon in France. In 1993, a masked gunman held toddlers hostage for 2 days at their kindergarten in a suburb of Paris, however he finally launched them unhurt earlier than he was killed by law enforcement officials.