Name: Macron says France 'under attack' as police foil fourth attack
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Macron says France 'under attack' as police foil fourth attack

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sharesFrench President Emmanuel Macron has declared the country ‘under attack’ and said soldiers would be posted at churches to ‘protect’&nbsp;them.The country is reeling from a string of incidents feared to be terror-related, beginning with a knife attack in NiceMr Macron halted a parliament debate on coronavirus lockdown to visit the scene of the tragedy in the southern city.He told reporters in Nice: ‘If we are attacked, it is because of our values, our values of freedom and our desire not to yield to terror.&nbsp;‘A deployment of soldiers [is] to be stepped up on French territory, stepping up protection of places of worship including churches.’The killings took place less than half a mile from the site in 2016 where another attacker drove a truck into a Bastille Day crowd, killing dozens of people.After pledging ‘support’ and ‘unity’ to French citizens and the Catholic community, Mr Macron announced he would more than double the number of soldiers deployed to protect against terror attacks.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatHe said he will be raising the number of troops currently on patrol from 3,000 to 7,000, adding there would be extra protection at schools.The president’s statement followed reports a fourth knife attack was foiled near a church in the north-western suburbs of Paris this afternoon.The man was detained near Saint-Martin Church in Sartrouville at around noon after he allegedly left his house armed with a knife saying he wanted to ‘copy’ the Nice attackThe man had told his father he ‘wanted to do as in Nice’ before leaving the home, according to Le Parisien.The French news site said the father warned police who rushed to the scene and stopped the suspect while he was driving near the church.Earlier, France was in the space of two hours.The first saw three people killed by a knifeman inside the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice, just as a service was starting shortly before 10am local time.At least two of the victims, a man and woman, 70, were decapitated.The man killed in the attack was the church sexton.A third victim, a woman aged 40, managed to escape the attack but died shortly after from her wounds.Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi&nbsp;said that ‘everything about the incident’ suggested a terrorist attack.He said the attacker repeated ‘Allah Akbar!’ over and over as he lay wounded and that ‘the meaning of his gesture left no doubt’.French authorities have opened a terrorism investigation. The suspect was believed to be acting alone and police are not searching for other attackers.Just over an hour after the Nice attack, at about 11.15am, in the Montfavet district of Avignon, in the south-east.Around a similar time, a man was arrested in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for attacking a guard outside the French embassy.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatOfficials are yet to confirm if the attacks are linked or the exact motives behind the attacks in Montfavet and Jeddah.The tragedies come less than two weeks after history teacher, Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded in a Paris suburb, after showing pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.Following his death, President Emmanuel Macron said France would not ‘renounce the caricatures’ of Prophet Muhammad.The cartoons from French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo were projected onto government buildings last week, sparking anger across the Islamic world with thousands of Muslims calling for a boycott of French products.A representative of the French Council for the Muslim Faith strongly condemned the attack in Nice today, saying: ‘As a sign of mourning and solidarity with the victims and their loved ones, I call on all Muslims in France to cancel all the celebrations of the holiday of Mawlid.’Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .For more stories like this, .Not convinced?Share this withMore Stories

sharesFrench President Emmanuel Macron has declared the country ‘under attack’ and said soldiers would be posted at churches to ‘protect’&nbsp;them.The country is reeling from a string of incidents feared to be terror-related, beginning with a knife attack in NiceMr Macron halted a parliament debate on coronavirus lockdown to visit the scene of the tragedy in the southern city.He told reporters in Nice: ‘If we are attacked, it is because of our values, our values of freedom and our desire not to yield to terror.&nbsp;‘A deployment of soldiers [is] to be stepped up on French territory,...

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Macron says France 'under attack' as police foil fourth attack

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