Stabbing attack in France ‘heinous’, ‘unjustifiable’, Trudeau says
Posted October 29, 2020 11:15 am.
Last Updated October 29, 2020 11:49 am.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) — Calling the stabbing deaths of three people in southern France “heinous,” “criminal,” and “unjustifiable,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the attack in Nice on Thursday.
“We stand with everyone around the world in condemning this unacceptable violence,” Trudeau said.
The stabbings happened at the Notre Dame Basilica and are now being treated as a terror attack by French investigators.
It’s the third attack in two months in France, which has grown increasingly tense during a furor over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were re-published by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
“The criminals, the terrorists, the cold-blooded murderers who perpetrated these attacks do not represent Islam. They do not get to define Muslims in Canada, in France, or anywhere around the world,” Trudeau said.
Devastating news from Nice, where a terrorist attack at a church claimed several lives. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the victims. We stand in solidarity with the French people against violence and denounce these unjustifiable acts, which have no place in our society.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 29, 2020
The prime minister made his comments as he joined a news conference with European leaders on Thursday.
“The terrorist attacks in France are absolutely unacceptable,” he said, adding the attack was an afront to Canadian values.
“We stand with everyone around the world in condemning this unacceptable violence.”
The suspect was arrested Thursday and taken to the hospital after being hurt in the detention, police officials said.
The knife attack in Nice came just weeks after a French teacher was beheaded in a suburb of Paris.
It also took place less than a kilometre from where an attacker plowed a truck into a Bastille Day crowd, killing dozens of people, in 2016.
Speaking hours after the attack on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed his support for the French people, saying the country was under attack and that there is but one community in the country — a national one.
Déclaration après l’attaque terroriste de Nice. https://t.co/9UmVPYLDf7
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 29, 2020
Macron also spoke from in front the church where the attacks took place, calling for unity.
J'appelle à l'unité de tous.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 29, 2020
The president announced he was mobilizing more soldiers to patrol French streets in the wake of the attack.
On Thursday, a guard at the French consulate in Saudi Arabia was also stabbed.
