Louvre reopens
Security heightened after assailant attacks soldiers
The Louvre Museum reopened to the public on Saturday, less than 24 hours after a machete-wielding assailant attacked French soldiers guarding the sprawling building and was shot by them.
The worldwide draw of the iconic museum in central Paris, host to thousands of artworks including the Mona Lisa, was on full display on a drizzly winter day as international tourists filed by armed police and soldiers patrolling outside the site, which had been closed immediately after Friday’s attack.
The attacker was shot four times after slightly injuring a soldier patrolling the nearby underground mall but his injuries on Saturday were no longer life-threatening, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
French President Francois Hollande said there is “no doubt” the suspect’s actions were a terror attack.
The attacker has been declared fit to be interviewed after his condition improved and placed in formal detention, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
“His life is no longer in danger,” an official at the prosecutor’s office said.
An Egyptian Interior Ministry official confirmed on Saturday that the attacker is Egyptian-born Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy, who is 28, not 29 as widely reported.
The official said an initial investigation in Egypt found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership in any militant group by him.
French authorities said they are not yet ready to name the suspect, but confirmed they thought he was Egyptian.
The suspect was believed to have been living in the United Arab Emirates and came to Paris on Jan 26 on a tourist visa, prosecutor Francois Molins said. The suspect bought two military machetes at a gun store in Paris and paid 1,700 euros ($1,834) for a one-week stay at a Paris apartment in the chic 8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Elysees Avenue.
We heard on the news that a terrorist attack took place, ... we stayed at the hotel and we’re thinking about cutting our vacation in Paris short.” Lucia Reveron, tourist from Argentina
Mixed feelings
At the Louvre on Saturday, visitors expressed mixed feelings about the incident, with some planning to leave Paris earlier than planned.
“We heard on the news that a terrorist attack took place, ... we stayed at the hotel and we’re thinking about cutting our vacation in Paris short,” said Lucia Reveron from Argentina.
Others felt safer because of the heightened security presence.
“I went around yesterday in the evening and security was everywhere. Even now, when we arrived (at the Louvre), we were checked and it’s secure. I don’t feel any threats,” said Kurt Vellafonde from Malta.
With the spate of attacks on France in the past few years, many residents have become resilient, even blase.
“There have been very good security measures taken and it does not scare me at all,” said Regine Dechivre. “It’s the phenomena of a person a little bit disturbed. The investigation will tell us what exactly happened.”