[Levin]

Chris Stevenson and Shweta Sharma
Fri, 9 June 2023 at 3:43 am SGT


A British girl on holiday with her family was among four toddlers and two adults stabbed in an “odious and unspeakable” attack in an open-air playground by a man armed with a knife.

Witnesses described scenes of panic as screaming mothers sought to protect children from the assailant, who rampaged around a lakeside park in Annecy, in the French Alps. At least one child was stabbed in a pram despite desperate efforts by a woman to push him aside.

Video showed the suspect – later identified as a Syrian father who came to Europe a decade ago as a refugee – slashing at his victims and shouting “in the name of Jesus Christ.”

The children – aged between 22 months and three years – underwent surgery for serious injuries but were later said to be in a stable condition.


Photos, map and much more info at: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/eight-children...12435.html

[Levin]

UPDATED JUN 10, 2023, 5:12 PM SGT


PARIS - The knife attack on toddlers in a French Alpine town, suspected to have been carried out by a Syrian refugee, has thrown a spotlight on President Emmanuel Macron’s struggles to find support for a new immigration Bill in a fragmented Parliament.

France was still in shock a day after four children – aged between 22 and 36 months – and two pensioners were stabbed in the tranquil lakeside town of Annecy.

The suspect in police custody is a 31-year-old Syrian national who was granted refugee status in Sweden 10 years ago and, thanks to European free movement rules, was legally in France, where he had filed another asylum request.

The French authorities rejected that request last week.

The case has exposed the tensions between Europe’s free movement rights and the pressure governments in countries like France, Germany and Italy are feeling from voters to toughen immigration laws as societies shift rightwards politically.


https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europ...mmigration