An attacker injured a priest during a shooting in Lyon, France before fleeing: Police (Representation)
Paris:
An assailant armed with a cut-off shotgun wounded an Orthodox priest on Saturday in a shooting in the French city of Lyon before fleeing, a police source said.
The 52-year-old priest, of Greek nationality, was closing his church in the middle of the afternoon when the attack took place and is now in serious condition in hospital, said the source, who asked not to not be named.
The attack comes at a time when France is already on edge over the murder of three people inside a church and the beheading of a teacher who showed a class a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
The priest was shot in the liver at close range, according to sources close to the investigation.
No weapons were found at the scene of the shooting. The Interior Ministry tweeted that “an incident is underway” in the southeastern city of Lyon.
“Security and emergency personnel are at the scene,” the ministry added, warning people to “avoid the area” where the attack took place. The search for the assailant was ongoing.
The small Orthodox church is located in a residential area of Lyon that was particularly quiet due to new lockdown measures introduced in France on Friday to stem the growing coronavirus pandemic.
In Paris, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin opened a meeting of the crisis unit to examine the situation.
Prime Minister Jean Castex spoke of “the government’s desire to allow everyone to practice their worship in complete safety and freedom”.
France on alert
The shooting comes just days after three people were killed in a knife rampage at a church in the southern city of Nice.
A Tunisian suspect was shot dead by police near the scene of the attack.
France was already agitated after the republication in early September of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which was followed by an attack in front of its former offices, the beheading of the professor and the terrorist attack in Nice.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has warned that French citizens face a security risk “wherever they are”, saying alerts have been sent to all French nationals abroad.
France entered a second coronavirus lockdown on Friday but the government exempted places of worship until Monday, allowing them to celebrate Christian All Saints on Sunday.
France has been on high alert since the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre marked the start of a wave of jihadist attacks that left more than 250 dead.
Tensions have escalated since last month, when trial opened for 14 suspected accomplices in the attack.
After the deadly attack on Nice, President Emmanuel Macron announced increased surveillance of churches by French military force in the streets, which is to be stepped up to 7,000 soldiers against 3,000.
Safety in schools will also be strengthened, he said. Schools remain open during the new lockdown.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
