Asylum applicant who declares Syros attacked today with a knife in the French city of Annecy, injuring five people among which four small children before being arrested by the police.

The man attacked children about three years old who were at that time in playground in the big park which adjoins Lake Annecy in eastern France. Two of the children and an adult are in critical condition, while two other children suffered minor injuries, police said.

The moment of the arrest of the perpetrator

THE Emmanuel Macron spoke of an “attack of utter cowardice” in Annecy. “Children and an adult are between life and death. The nation is in shock,” the French president said in a tweet.

Who is the perpetrator?

According to the identity information provided by the attacker, he was born in 1991, is Syrian, an asylum seeker and is unknown to the authorities, a police source told AFP. A police official who spoke to Reuters said he had legal refugee status in France. He was not known to security services and his motives are not clear, a source in the investigation told Reuters.

Currently it is assessed whether the attack has a terrorist nature or not, according to a source close to the case.

“It happened at 9:45 [10:45 ώρα Ελλάδας] this morning, with a knife”near the Garden of Europe, a busy park located on the shores of Lake Annecy, the prefecture said.

“He jumped (into the playground), started shouting and then went towards the prams, repeatedly stabbing the children,” an eyewitness who said his name was Ferdinand told BFM TV.

“Moms were crying, everyone was running”said Georges, another eyewitness and owner of a nearby restaurant.

The television network aired footage showing several assailants subduing a person in a park.

Passersby try to immobilize the perpetrator

The Minister of the Interior Géral Darmanen immediately reacted on Twitter: “Several people, including children, were injured by a person armed with a knife in a square in Annecy. The person was arrested thanks to the swift intervention of law enforcement.”

A crisis management center was established in the Haute-Savoie prefecture, which also set up a public information mechanism.

According to the Dauphiné libéré newspaper, the victims were taken to the Annecy Genevois hospital center and the witnesses were taken to a building near the site of the attack, the area of ​​which was cordoned off by a significant police force.

“Very serious attack”

According to eyewitnesses who spoke to BFM TV, after the attack, the man tried to escape from the playground and attacked an elderly person before being quickly apprehended by the police.

In Paris, MPs and members of the government observed a minute’s silence in the National Assembly. The president of the National Assembly, Yael Bron-Pivet, called for a minute’s silence “for the children, for their families” after this “very serious” attack.

The prime minister Elizabeth Bourne and Géral Darmanen are expected on the ground, their colleagues told AFP.

“Horrifying attack this morning in Paquier in Annecy. All my thoughts to the victims and their families,” Mayor François Astorg wrote on Twitter, urging the public to avoid the Paquier area.

The entire political world reacted immediately.

“Horror gripped us all,” tweeted the president of the Renaissance parliamentary group (presidential majority) in the National Assembly Oror Berge, while Eric Cioti (The Republicans, right) spoke of “huge emotion and great anger”.

“The investigation will determine the circumstances, but it seems that the perpetrator had the same profile that we often find in these attacks. We must draw all conclusions without naivety, with strength and clarity.” he further said, speaking to the National Assembly.

“How is that possible? Attack on children! Hit them with a knife! It broke our hearts to experience it,” said on his part Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Insubordinate France, radical left).

“Horror and Terror”, said on the part of Marine Le Pen of the National Alarm (RN, extreme right).