French PM Jean Castex rushes to crisis response meeting in Paris after Lyon church attack

After a Greek Orthodox priest was shot at a church in the French city of Lyon, Prime Minister Jean Castex said that he would immediately depart for Paris to attend a crisis meeting. During a visit to the northern community of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Castex informed that the French interior minister has set up a crisis response centre and added that he was cutting short his visit to Rouen in Normandy to return to Paris. 

According to reports, the priest was shot twice at around 4 pm (local time) as he was closing the church in the city’s seventh arrondissement. A police official said that the priest is currently in a local hospital with life-threatening injuries after being hit in the abdomen. The officials informed that the assailant, who is reported to be at large, was alone and fired from a hunting rifle. 

After the incident, the police cordoned off the largely residential neighbourhood around the church and warned the public to stay alert. The Lyon public prosecutor’s office said that it had opened an investigation into attempted murder, and was liaising closely with the national anti-terrorism prosecutor. 

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Third attack in one month 

After the incident, the French PM reiterated the government promises to deploy military forces at religious sites and schools. He said that the French people can "count on the nation" to allow them to practice their religion in full safety and freedom. In the wake of the recent attacks, France has stepped up security across the nation. Minister and officials have even warned that more of such attacks were likely.

France has witnessed three attacks in just one month. The Saturday incident comes after a man armed with a knife killed three people in a church in Nice on Thursday. Earlier on October 16, a history teacher was beheaded outside his school amid ongoing tensions over a French newspaper’s publication of caricatures mocking Prophet Muhammad. The events have heightened tensions in the country over radical Islamist, secularism and freedom of speech. 

(Image Credits: AP)

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