Bloody battle at French polls
KILLING SPREE CAN INFLUENCE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TOMORROW
The killing of a policeman on Paris’s Champs Elysees claimed by the Islamic State group rocked France’s presidential race yesterday with just a day to go before voting in the closest election for decades.
Bloodshed had long been feared ahead of tomorrow’s first round of the election after a string of attacks since 2015, and the shooting propelled the jihadist threat to the fore.
A note praising Islamic State (IS) was found near the body of the 39-yearold French attacker, who shot dead one officer and wounded two others before being killed by police.
The note bolstered IS’s claim that the perpetrator, named as Karim Cheurfi, was one of its “fighters”.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen – who is locked in a tight four-way contest with centrist Emmanuel Macron, conservative Francois Fillon and Communist-backed firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon – moved quickly to present herself as the toughest of the four on terrorism.
The 48-year-old National Front leader called for France to “immediately” take back control of its borders from the European Union and deport all foreigners on a terror watchlist.
“This war against us is ceaseless and merciless,” she said.
Fillon and Macron also hastily convened televised briefings, where they both vowed to protect the French.
“Some haven’t taken the full measure of the evil,” 63-year-old Fillon said, promising an “iron-fisted” approach.
Macron, a 39-year-old moderate whom other candidates have portrayed as inexperienced, warned against any attempts to use the attack for political gain. “Let us not give into fear,” he said, telling voters he would be “unwavering in protecting you.”
The gunman drew up alongside a police van and fired, sending tourists and visitors to the world-renowned boulevard running.
After opening fire just a few hundred metres from the Arc de Triomphe monument, the gunman was shot dead while trying to flee on foot. A foreign tourist was slightly wounded by shrapnel.
In addition to the note praising IS, authorities found a Koran in the attacker’s vehicle.
A statement by IS’s propaganda agency Amaq said the attacker was one of its “fighters”, identifying him as “Abu Yussef the Belgian”.
But French authorities named him as Karim Cheurfi, a Frenchman living in the Paris suburbs. Cheurfi had been arrested in February on suspicion of plotting to kill police officers but released because of a lack of evidence.
Yesterday, French authorities said a man sought by Belgium police, who was suspected of having planned to travel to France on Thursday, had handed himself in in the Belgian city of Antwerp. French interior ministry spokesperson Pierre-Henry Brandet said it was “too early to say” if the man was linked to Thursday’s shooting.
It was unclear how the election would be impacted by the shooting.
Until now, surveys showed voters more concerned about unemployment and the economy than terrorism or security, though analysts warned this could change in the event of violence. –