Fourth victim of Strasbourg shooting dies

A FOURTH victim of the Strasbourg Christmas market attack died from his wounds yesterday as investigators searched for possible accomplices of the dead gunman.

Chérif Chekatt, 29, the prime suspect, was killed on Thursday after he opened fire on three patrol officers who crossed his path by chance.

The fourth victim of the knife and gun attack in central Strasbourg, eastern France, was Antonio Megalizzi, a 28-year-old Italian radio journalist, who was shot in the head and had been in a coma. Giuseppe Conte, the prime minister of Italy, said his whole country was united by “sadness and pain”.

Christophe Castaner, the French interior minister, attended the reopening of Strasbourg’s popular Christmas market yesterday. It had been shut since the attack on Tuesday night and its swift restoration was vital “for the honour of Strasbourg, for the honour of France”, he said.

The country was braced for a fifth Saturday of violent protests linked to the “yellow vest” movement against high taxes and the cost of living.

Mr Castaner urged protesters not to test exhausted security forces with the type of riots seen in Paris and Bordeaux over the past two weekends.

“I can’t stand the idea that today people applaud police forces and that tomorrow some people will think it makes sense to throw stones at us,” he said after meeting officers.

The movement appeared to be losing steam after concessions by President Emmanuel Macron, who said the country needed “calm, order and to return to a normal way of working”. Defying the protests, attractions such as the Louvre and Opera Garnier will be open this weekend.