Many are now deployed around schools, airports and other public places to defend against terror attacks. Two French-born brothers killed 11 people inside the building where Charlie Hebdo operated, as well as a Muslim policeman outside, on January 7th, 2015.
Advertisement
Ceremonies were held across France today to pay tribute both to the victims and to the emergency services.
The attack took place exactly a year after the attack on the Parisian office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine.
The president said the three police officers killed in January’s attacks “died so that we could live in freedom”.
French police shot dead a man wielding a meat cleaver after he tried to enter a police station on Thursday, the anniversary of militant attacks in Paris, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) and wearing what turned out to be a fake suicide belt.
The Paris prosecutor said Thursday that the man shot dead by Paris police was carrying paper with an ISIS flag on it as well as a claim of responsibility.
The shooting occurred shortly after President Francois Hollande finished a speech at police headquarters in the centre of Paris to pay homage to law enforcement officers killed previous year during the two waves of terrorist attacks.
But there was no reprieve for France.
Apart from one minor injury to a police officer the attack appeared entirely in vain, and it was only confirmed that the incident was being treated as “terrorism” after a search of the body.
Europe was “just at the beginning” of weathering the threat from jihadism, she said.
Pictures posted on social media showed a man in jeans and a grey jacket lying with his arms out at his sides on the pavement, yards from the entrance to the police station.
Alexis Mukenge, who witnessed the shooting, said police told the man, “Stop”. Move back! before firing twice at the man, who immediately fell to the ground.
A civilian named Nora Borria said that she wasn’t able to get to her home because of the barricades set up by the police.
Molins said authorities had established from fingerprints that the dead man identified himself as Sallah to police when they intercepted him previous year. Investigators were trying to determine if and when the man had returned to Paris.
The man was wearing what looked like an explosive vest, but it was fake, according to two French police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Mr Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.
Deutsche Welle, Germany’s worldwide news broadcaster, reports on Mr. Hollande’s speech.
Hollande had said earlier that what he called a “terrorist threat” would continue to weigh on France.
France has faced down terror from numerous quarters over the decades, but its first head-on encounter with the Islamic State group a year ago was a turning point for a fearful Europe. “The thing I’m most proud of is that Lilian is still alive and that the staff of my company came out with their lives intact”.
Advertisement
Hollande said that since the attack on Charlie Hebdo, almost 200 people in France had been placed under travel restrictions to prevent them joining up with I.S.in Syria or Iraq.
