French police officers keep watch in front of the Louvre museum, closed for security reasons, in Paris on October 14, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
France was on high alert on October 14, after an attacker stabbed a teacher to death in what the President called an act of “Islamist terror,” with troops deployed and the Louvre museum evacuating visitors.
The October 13 attack took place in the northeastern town of Arras, home to large Jewish and Muslim populations.
A man in his twenties killed French teacher Dominique Bernard and severely wounded three others at the school he used to attend.
On October 14, amid fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could lead to violence in foreign capitals, France announced it would deploy up to 7,000 soldiers under the highest warning level, while the famous Louvre museum in Paris evacuated visitors and closed following a “security” threat.
Police arrested the suspected perpetrator of the October 13 attack, Mohammed Moguchkov, who had cried the Arabic phrase “Allahu akbar!” (God is greatest).
He was among 10 people being held in custody on October 14, a police source told AFP, including several members of his family.
Authorities have suggested a probable link to the ongoing violence in the Middle East.
In Paris, a spokeswoman for the Louvre, the largest museum in the world, told AFP it had “received a written message stating that there was a risk to the museum and its visitors”.
The deployment of the soldiers from Operation Sentinelle will be completed by Monday evening, according to the Elysee presidential palace.
Sentinelle is a French military operation involving the deployment of soldiers, police and gendarmes set up in the aftermath of January 2015 attacks to protect parts of the country deemed sensitive from terrorism.
“This school was struck by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism,” President Emmanuel Macron said after visiting the school, adding that the victim had “probably saved many lives” with his courage in blocking the attacker.
Mr. Macron said another attempted attack in a region near Paris had been foiled by security forces.
According to the Interior Ministry, the President was referring to the arrest of a “radicalised” man who was arrested leaving a prayer hall in the Yvelines region bordering Paris for carrying a prohibited weapon.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin later said there was “probably a link between what’s happening in the Middle East and this incident” in Arras.
France upped its alert level to the highest position following a crunch security meeting chaired by Mr. Macron on Friday, the prime minister’s office told AFP.
The national anti-terrorist prosecutor announced that it has opened an investigation.
French authorities said Moguchkov was Russian, born in the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
He was already on a French national register as a potential security threat, a police source told AFP, and under electronic and physical surveillance by France’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI.
