Emmanuel Macron has condemned racism in French society after a gunman opened fire from a car west of Paris on Friday, killing one person, wounding a 12-year-old girl and injuring four others in what the president called a “racist terrorist attack”.
asserted
president → condemn → what
Macron arrived at the scene of the drive-by shooting in Trappes, a town west of Paris, on Friday night, saying he was deeply saddened by what he called the “premeditated” attack.
asserted
he → arrive → what
The 12-year-old girl, who was shot eight times, is being treated in hospital.
asserted
who → shoot → hospital
“What happened today marks a turning point for our country; what happened today was a terrorist and racist attack,” Macron said.
asserted
Macron → happen → country
He said the gunman had targeted people because of the colour of their skin.
asserted
gunman → say → skin
The president said racism had often become part of the “ambient discourse in France” and created “an atmosphere”.
asserted
racism → say → atmosphere
He said: “Don’t let this terrorist attack divide us.”
asserted
attack → say → us
He called for “respect and unity”, saying many French people would be scared and thinking “this could happen to me”.
uncertain
this → call → me
Ali Rabeh, the leftwing mayor of Trappes, said that the gunman had set out by car on Friday morning “firing at random, wanting to cause a bloodbath” as he drove through the town and neighbouring La Verrière.
asserted
he → say → town
The mayor called it “objectively a racist attack, probably Islamophobic”.
asserted
mayor → call → it
Rabeh, whose family has Moroccan roots, said: “The people targeted today could just as easily have been my mother, my brothers or my sisters-in-law.
uncertain
people → have → law
“A 12-year-old girl is between life and death after being targeted by a volley of automatic gunfire in our country.
asserted
girl → target → country
Her crime was probably being of colour,” he added.
asserted
he → add → colour
“It’s probably one of the first attempts at a mass crime of Islamophobia and racism.”
asserted
It → ’ → Islamophobia
Rabeh said everyone in France had a responsibility to bring “calm and harmony”.
asserted
everyone → say → calm
He called for a collective condemnation of rhetoric that “ideologically arms those capable of carrying out such acts”.
asserted
that → call → acts
Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating whether the gunman targeted the “real or supposed race, ethnicity, nationality or religion” of the victims.
asserted
gunman → investigate → victims
The 39-year-old suspect, who was stopped by police in his car, was named by France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor as Kevin T.
asserted
who → stop → T.
He had driven through the towns of Trappes and La Verrière in Yvelines at about 10.30am on Friday.
asserted
He → drive → Friday
Over the course of 15 minutes, he repeatedly fired an automatic weapon, first at a petrol station, then a medical centre and a children’s playground.
asserted
he → fire → station
The French public broadcaster reported that he shot dead a young black man, then targeted a woman wearing a headscarf, before shooting the 12-year-old girl, who was being treated for her eight gunshot wounds at a children’s hospital on Friday night.
asserted
who → report → night
The prosecutor said in a statement on Friday night that the medical status of the five wounded victims was not stable.
asserted
status → say → victims
Rabeh said the man killed was “of African origin” and that another of the wounded was “of north African origin”.
asserted
another → say → origin
Nicolas Dainville, the mayor of La Verrière, told Agence France-Presse that two of the wounded people in his town were cleaners of African origin attending to a school Friday on morning when the shooter got out of his car to open fire.
asserted
shooter → tell → fire
The prosecutor said that when the suspect was stopped by police in his car he was found with a sten gun – a British submachine gun used in the second world war – as well as teargas grenades.
asserted
he → say → war
The man had also booby-trapped his home with gas canisters and electric wires connected to a timer, authorities said, adding that a member of his family was arrested and taken into custody for questioning.
asserted
member → trap → questioning
It is an extremely serious act,” the interior minister, Laurent Nunez, told reporters from Yvelines.
asserted
minister → tell → Yvelines
The shooting comes at a moment of particular tension in France.
asserted
shooting → come → France
Last Saturday saw one of the most violent days of unrest in years, which left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted, and at least 2,400 people arrested in cities across the country.
asserted
people → see → country
Renewed protests, over teacher shortages and crumbling buildings in high schools as well as the high cost of living, are expected on Saturday.
asserted
protests → renew → Saturday
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right anti-immigration the National Rally party, is polling highly ahead of next spring’s presidential election when Macron steps down.
asserted
Macron → poll → election
After the Trappes attack, Fabien Roussel, a Communist candidate, wrote on social media that the far right was responsible for “racist hatred” in France.
asserted
right → write → France
Le Pen condemned what she called the “abject motive of racism” of the “barbaric act”.
asserted
she → condemn → act
The Aporia
