A video of the street in front of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice, where a man killed three people and injured several others, has emerged online. The footage shows an almost empty street in front of the cathedral, with several police cars on the street.
The police operation is reportedly still underway; however, the perpetrator of the attack has already been detained, according to Mayor Christian Estrosi.
8h50 grand déploiement des forces de l'ordre à #NotreDame à #Nice. Des coups de feu entendus. pic.twitter.com/SiuOhAeRG8
— Ivan Blanco (@ivanblancovilar) October 29, 2020
Estrosi qualified the incident as a possible terrorist attack.
Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron called Islam a religion 'in crisis' and promised new legislation that would create "enlightened Islam" in the country days after a radicalised teen beheaded history teacher Samuel Paty, after he had displayed cartoons in class depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad during a lesson on the freedom of speech. Muslims consider any picture of Muhammad to be blasphemous.
The French government declared the incident a terrorist attack and pledged to reinforce the counter-extremist measures in the country.
