According to authorities, three persons were killed, and three others were injured in a Friday gunshot directed at a Kurdish cultural centre in a busy Paris district. A 69-year-old suspect was wounded and taken into custody.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has launched a murder and attempted murder investigation. The suspect was previously arrested for striking migrants who were living in tents, according to the Paris prosecutor, and authorities are looking into the possibility that the shooting may have had a racist motivation.
Paris shooting: Who is the suspect?
According to the authorities, a Friday shooting that targeted a busy Paris neighbourhood’s Kurdish cultural centre resulted in three fatalities and three injuries. The suspect, who was 69 years old, was injured and taken to prison.
The prosecutor’s office in Paris has opened an inquiry into a murder and an attempted murder. Police are investigating the possibility of the shooting having a racist motive. According to the Paris prosecutor, the suspect was just released from prison after assaulting migrants sleeping in tents.
In Paris, the Kurdish community was appalled by the massacre and sought justice, claiming that police had just informed them of threats against Kurdish targets.
Locals and surrounding business owners were deeply disturbed by the incident, as Paris was buzzing with holiday events before the Christmas weekend.
What happened in the Kurdish cultural center?
A Kurdish cultural centre was where the shooting occurred, as well as a restaurant and hair salon nearby, according to Alexandra Cordebard, the mayor of the 10th arrondissement. She informed reporters that the “real motivation” for the shooting was still a mystery.
Several individuals shouted “Erdogan, terrorist” and “Turkish state, assassin” at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as she spoke.
A worker on a neighbouring construction site observed the assailant go to the restaurant, the cultural centre, and finally, the hairdresser, in that order.
The construction worker claimed to have seen the perpetrator strike three people before two onlookers intervened and stopped him.
The worker, who requested anonymity for his protection, described the assailant as silent and calm while carrying a small-calibre pistol.
Police cordoned off the area in Paris’s 10th arrondissement near the Gare de l’Est train station and on a busy street lined with shops and eateries. The public urged against the Paris police force’s region.
What was the suspect’s motive?
Ibrahim Saydo Aydogan, an eyewitness, was present. He told Rudaw over the phone that when he arrived at the location of the incident, the suspect had already been taken into custody.
The Kurdish man claimed that Kurdish men initially apprehended the criminal before being turned over to the police. According to Aydogan, each martyr is an “activist for the Kurdish cause.” According to him, two of the dead included Aveen and Mir Parwar.
In the witness’s account, every victim is a native of Turkey’s Kurdish region (Northern Kurdistan). The Paris prosecutor has allegedly said that the alleged racial reason behind the incident would be investigated. Several Kurdish protesters and the police fought after the deadly incident.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau’s statement
According to Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau, three shooting victims have passed away, one is critically injured, and two are receiving treatment for less severe injuries in hospitals. The attacker, she claims, also suffered facial wounds. Despite being in contact with investigators, she said that anti-terrorism prosecutors have not yet provided any proof of a terrorist motive.
According to Yann Monzi of the aid group Utopia 54, during the attack on the migrants, the suspect brandished a sabre and hurt a few people in a makeshift camp. He and the Kurds who had gathered at the shooting location on Friday lamented the suspect’s recent release.
Murat Roni, an activist who usually frequents the cultural centre, claims that the Kurds were the intended target. He likened it to the Kurdish embassy in Paris and called it “a house where all the Kurds get together” for gatherings, political discussions, and cultural activities.
“We do not at all feel protected in Paris,” he said after the attack on Friday. We do not think the French legal system is defending us.
At a Kurdish centre in Paris in 2013, the bodies of three female Kurdish activists were discovered; one of them was Sakine Cansiz, the PKK’s founder. Despite suspicions that the Turkish secret service was involved, a Turkish citizen was prosecuted for their murder. In northern Iraq and southeast Turkey, the Turkish army has fought against insurgents with ties to the PKK. Recently, the Turkish military has also conducted several airstrikes and artillery attacks against terrorist Syrian Kurdish targets in northern Syria.
In Turkey, the PKK is regarded as a terrorist organisation in Europe and the US since it has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish government since 1984. France remains on high alert for acts of terrorism in the wake of a string of horrific attacks by Islamic extremists in 2015 and 2016.
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