A knife attack injured four children aged between 22 months and 3 years old, and two adults this Thursday in a park on the shores of Lake Annecy, in the French Alps.

An eyewitness told French BFMTV that the attacker jumped in the playground, started shouting and then went towards the strollers, repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife.

Dozens of other young children received support for the trauma of witnessing the stabbings, and high school children who also witnessed the attack were also treated for shock.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife visited the victims at the hospital and reported that the “the doctors are fairly optimistic”.

He added that his visit aims “to bring the whole nation’s support to these children, their families, to Annecy and its inhabitants”.

A fourth child was being treated in a Swiss hospital in Geneva. All had been operated on and two remained in a critical but stable condition a day after the attack, the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, said.

Syrian asylum seeker

The attacker is a 31-year-old Syrian who had been in France since last October, living like a homeless person. There was no police record of him, and he had not been spotted by the intelligence services.

He had been granted asylum in Sweden, which gave him the right to travel in Europe. He had applied for asylum in France at the end of October, as well as in Switzerland and Italy. That is why his application in France was rejected on 26 April.

On his application described himself to be a “Christian from Syria”, informed BFMTV. In the park, he shouted “in the name of Jesus Christ” and kissed a cross he was wearing around his neck. A small prayer book was also found on his person.

“The backpack hero”

Police arrested the attacker after shooting him in the legs near the scene of the attack, with the help of young Catholic student, Henri D’Anselme, who is named “the backpack hero” by French media, after he used his rucksack as a shield to try to block him.

When asked about the fact that the attacker claimed to be a Christian, Henri said: “You can't kill innocent children in the name of Christ, it's fundamentally anti-Christian. The true message of Christ is one of love and defence of the weakest, and that's the message on which France was built”.

Macron also visited D’Anselme, the police and emergency workers who contributed in helping and supporting the victims.

CNEF reaction

“In no way can the example of Jesus Christ lead to violence. On the contrary, he was full of love, particularly towards children, going so far as to say in Matthew's Gospel: The kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them”. said on twitter Romain Choisnet, communications director of the National Council of Evangelicals in France (CNEF).

For Choisnet, “it is very surprising and incomprehensible that an attack could have been made in the name of Jesus”.

“In evangelical circles, we follow Jesus' command: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. (Jn 15:16), but this formula is never brandished as a mark of belonging or aggression”, he concluded.

Annecy : En aucune manière l'exemple de Jésus-Christ ne peut amener à la violence, il était au contraire plein d'amour, en particulier envers les enfants en allant jusqu'à affirmer dans l'évangile de Matthieu : "le royaume de Dieu est à ceux qui leur ressemblent".

— Romain CHOISNET (@comcnef) June 9, 2023