Protesters clash with cops in Paris after deadly shooting at Kurdish cultural center
Demonstrators say French security services didn’t do enough to prevent attack; minister: gunman was clearly after foreigners but no evidence yet he specifically targeted Kurds
French police clashed with protesters in Paris Friday after a gunman opened fire at a Kurdish cultural central and hairdressing salon in Paris, killing three people and wounding three others.
The shots shortly before midday caused panic in rue d’Enghien in the trendy 10th district of the capital, a bustling area of shops and restaurants that is home to a large Kurdish population. A 69-year-old suspect who has previously been charged with racist violence was wounded and arrested.
Hours after the attack, clashes broke out as officers used teargas in an attempt to disperse Kurdish demonstrators as they tried to break through a police cordon deployed to protect Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin who had arrived at the scene.
Demonstrators threw objects at police while voicing fury over an attack they saw as deliberate and which French security services had done too little to prevent.
Several cars parked in the area as well as police vehicles had their windows smashed as protesters threw bricks.
Some of the protesters shouted slogans against the Turkish government.
“Erdogan, terrorist,” they chanted, in reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Turkish state, assassin.”
Speaking to reports near the scene, Darmanin said the attacker was clearly targeting foreigners, but that police don’t have evidence at this stage that he was specifically aiming to hurt Kurds. Darmanin is holding a special meeting Friday night to assess threats targeting the Kurdish community in France
The Kurdish Democratic Council of France (CDK-F), which uses the cultural center as its headquarters, said in a statement it considered the shooting to be a “terror attack.”
The gunman, named as William M. in the French media, had already been linked to two previous attempted murders in 2016 and 2021.
The retired train driver was initially convicted over the first case in the multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, but freed on appeal, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told reporters without giving further details.
In the second case, he was charged with racist violence after allegedly attacking migrants in tents in the Bercy area of the city in December 2021, Beccuau added.
At least two migrants suffered injuries from a sword used in the assault, a police source told AFP at the time.
“The Kurds in France have been the target of an odious attack in the heart of Paris,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter.
Authorities are likely to face questions in the coming days over why the gunman had been recently released on bail given his criminal record.
The attacker attended a shooting range in a sports club, and had several registered weapons, Darmanin said. He added that the attacker is French and was not on any radicalism watch lists, or known for involvement in any extreme-right or other political movements.
The minister has repeatedly warned about the danger of violent far-right groups in France.
Last month, 13 people from far-right political circles were ordered to stand trial for allegedly plotting to attack Macron.
