French Former President: Muslims Don't Be Equalized with Terrorists

Paris, MINA – Muslims should not be equalized with terrorists, former French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.

“These Islamist terrorists want to create war between religions,” Hollande said in response to a deadly knife attack in the city of Nice, which killed three people.

“Don’t be equalized these terrorists with Muslims. It will be a mistake that will plunge us into a conflict we don’t want to touch,” the former president said on LCI television.

Hollande highlighted the series of attacks that took place on Thursday in the French cities of Nice, Avignon and Lyon, and the French Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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The Nice attack was carried out by Brahim Aouissaoui, a Tunisian-born man who stabbed two women and one man at the Basilica of Notre Dame de l’Assumption in Nice.

One of the women died after being slit in the throat. Police arrested Aouissaoui that morning, he is now being treated in hospital with a gunshot wound.

Anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard told the daily Le Monde after the attack that Aouissaoui had a murder weapon – a knife with a blade 17 cm along with two other knives that were found in a bag inside the basilica.

Aouissaoui, 21, landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 20 before arriving in mainland Italy in Bari on October 9, and then crossed the border to enter France.

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The documentation from the French Red Cross helps uncover facts about the suspect’s movement, as he was not known to the authorities before Thursday.

A second person was arrested on Thursday evening in connection with the attack. The 47-year-old is now in police custody, and he interacted with Aouissaoui on the Wednesday leading up to the attack.

Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin on Friday afternoon announced the addition of 3,500 backup security forces and 3,500 additional police in the country to deal with the escalation in violence.

At least 120 additional police officers deployed in Nice to maintain security.

“Threats are everywhere,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a press conference on Friday.

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Prime Minister Jean Castex raised terrorism awareness to the highest level in the country after the attack. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)