Wednesday 27 July 2016

Hollande meets faith leaders over French church attack

French President Francois Hollande 00013 

The French president is meeting Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist leaders after an elderly priest was murdered in Normandy on Tuesday.

Father Jacques Hamel was conducting morning mass in his church.

One of the two men who attacked him was wearing an electronic surveillance tag, which was temporarily turned off under his probation conditions.

The attack came 12 days after the attack in Nice in which 84 people were killed.

After meeting the religious representatives, President Francois Hollande will hold his security and defence council, and then the cabinet will meet.

On Tuesday Mr Hollande appealed for "unity" as he warned that the war against terrorism "will be long".

"Our democracy is the target, and it will be our shield. Let us stand together. We will win this war," he said.

Only one of the two attackers has been named. Adel Kermiche, 19, had twice tried to reach Syria to fight with the so-called Islamic State group.

According to Le Monde (in French), the prosecutor's office had asked for him to remain in detention but this was overruled by a judge. She ordered that he be released to house arrest with an electronic tag ensuring that he remained at home, except on weekday mornings.

This meant that on Tuesday morning he was free to leave the family home and head to the church.

He and his fellow attacker slit Father Hamel's throat before being killed by police.

One of four people taken hostage suffered severe knife wounds, prosecutor Francois Molins said.

France is still reeling from the Bastille Day attack in Nice earlier this month, when a lorry was driven into celebrating crowds by Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, killing more than 80 people.

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