On Saturday, a 45-year-old priest at the Greek Orthodox Church was shot and wounded in the French city of Lyon. The Church, founded in 1929, is located on located on 45 Rue Père Chevrier in France.
As per reports, the priest was shot twice at around 4 pm with a sawn-off hunting rifle, when he was closing the church. Identified as one Nikolaos Kakavelakis, the priest is now being treated for life-threatening injuries. Meanwhile, the accused fled the crime scene and his identity is yet to be ascertained. The victim told the emergency services that he did not know the attacker. Unlike other Churches, the Greek Orthodox Church did not have any security guards.
The cops are now investigating whether the attack was related to terrorism. “The gunman shot the priest twice in the stomach and then ran away,” an investigating officer informed. Later, a suspect was apprehended near a kebab shop in Lyon and put under police custody. However, it was not clear whether the nabbed suspect was the ‘real assailant’. A case was registered by police for an attempt to murder against unidentified people.
The beheading of Samuel Paty and calls to Boycott France
Earlier in October, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Islam is in crisis all over the world. He also suggested to close down places of worship that are suspected of radicalisation. Just two weeks after his statement, a school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by a radical Islamist for showing Prophet Muhammad’s cartoon in his class.
Macron condemned the heinous crime strongly after which Islamic nations started boycotting French products and held protest rallies against France. Radicals are trending hashtags like #BoycottFrenchProducts and #TwitterSuspendMacron on Twitter and spreading same hatred towards France on other social media platforms. Some so-called celebrities like Waqar Zaka also tried to guilt trip Muslim celebrities as they are not boycotting France on their social media handles.
Three killed by terrorist shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ in Nice
Last week, it was reported how Islamic terrorist killed three people and left several injured in an attack at a church in Notre Dame Church in Nice, France. In the attack, the Islamists beheaded two people, including one elderly lady inside the church. As per local French media, the Nice Mayor, Christian Estrosi has said that the Islamic terrorist did not stop shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while carrying out the attack.