French police detain suspected church shooter, Interior Minister Darmanin heads to Lyon

After yet another church attack in France, police have detained the man suspected to have injured an Orthodox Greek priest in Lyon on October 31, as per local media reports. According to LyonMag, the suspect was detained the same day in the third district of the city. The priest was shot twice at around 4 pm (local time) as he was closing the church in Lyon’s seventh arrondissement. The victim is currently in critical condition. 

After the incident, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced opening a crisis unit to probe the matter and added that he was on his way to Paris. French Prime Minister Jean Castex also said that he was cutting short a visit to Rouen in Normandy and returning to Paris to attend the meeting. 

READ: France Witnesses Another Church Attack, Priest Seriously Injured In Lyon Shooting

France increases security across country 

In the wake of the recent attacks, France has stepped up security across the country. Earlier this week, President Emmanuel Macron had announced that the country’s security threat alert had been raised to the highest level. On Sunday, France also stepped up security at churches and other religious sites. As per The Guardian reports, another 3,500 gendarmes are to be drafted in to protect schools when they open after the half-term holiday; 120 extra police have also been sent to Nice. 

Meanwhile, PM Castex also reiterated the government's 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.

READ: France Attack: Third Man Detained In Connection With Stabbing Incident In Nice

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. 

According to reports, the 21-year-old Nice attacker, Brahim Aouissaoui from Tunisia, was shot by police and is in critical condition in hospital. The officials are still trying to establish how and when he arrived in the French city soon after being refused permission to remain in Italy on October 9. The History teacher, on the other hand, was beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen origin man, Abdullakh Anzorov, who was also shot by police soon after the attack. 

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