Police shoot unarmed woman wearing Islamic veil and ‘threatening to blow herself up while screaming Allahu Akbar’ at Paris metro station
Police shot an unarmed woman wearing an Islamic veil who “threatened to blow herself up while shouting Allahu Akbar” at a Paris metro station.
The victim, who has not been named, was hit by at least one bullet today at the height of rush hour at the Bibliothèque François-Miterrand metro station in Paris.
After passengers on a suburban train alerted police, officers managed to ‘isolate’ the woman at the station on the capital’s south bank, leading to a standoff.
The woman was shot about 50 minutes after armed police arrived at the station. Police say officers opened fire after she failed to respond to their warnings.
She was left in critical condition.
Police shot an unarmed woman wearing an Islamic veil who ‘threatened to blow herself up while shouting Allahu Akbar’ at a Paris metro station
“According to police, she made threats and advocated terrorism,” an investigating source said.
Armed officers arrived at the station shortly after 8.30am and the woman – who was dressed in an Islamic veil – “threatened to blow herself up”, the source said.
She is also said to have shouted ‘Allahu akbar’, Arabic for ‘God is the Greatest’.
‘Fearing for their safety, police opened fire around 9.20am. She then suffered injuries to her stomach and was immediately evacuated,” the source said.
Witnesses to the incident said the woman was completely veiled.
Tuesday’s incident prompted the launch of the anti-terrorist plan Vigipirate. The station was closed, soldiers surrounded the area and civilians were evacuated.
The woman was initially spotted at Villeneuve-le-Roi RER station, where she ‘made worrying comments’.
Police were waiting for her in Paris, and “after refusing to obey the officer’s orders and threatening to blow himself up, a police officer discharged his firearm once,” the prosecutor said.
He confirmed that the suspect’s condition was “critical” in hospital.
The victim, who has not been named, was hit by at least one bullet today at the height of rush hour at the Bibliothèque François-Miterrand metro station in Paris (pictured today)
The incident happened at the Bibliothèque François-Miterrand metro station in Paris
A spokesperson for the Paris public prosecutor’s office stated that “two investigations have been opened following the shooting and arrest of a woman on the RER C railway line.”
He said she “reportedly made death threats after boarding a train on the outskirts of Val-de-Marne.
One investigation targeted the woman for “apologies for terrorism, death threats and intimidation.”
The second investigation was also opened into ‘intentional violence with a weapon by a person with public authority’ – in this case a police officer.
France was embroiled in widespread riots in June after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk – a French Muslim of Algerian-Moroccan background – in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
His killer – who has not been formally named – was a traffic police officer who remains in custody awaiting trial.
Cars were torched, buildings torched, fireworks thrown at police and shops looted for more than a week as France was accused of being institutionally racist.
France has been under ‘attack alert’ since October 13, when a teacher was stabbed to death by an Islamist former student in the northern city of Arras.
The alleged attacker was under police surveillance on suspicion of Islamic radicalization. French anti-terror investigators said the suspect had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group before the attack in the northern French city of Arras.
Dominique Bernard, 57, was stabbed repeatedly in the neck by a would-be ISIS terrorist who also shouted “Allahu Akbar.” Bernard’s suspected murder is 20-year-old Chechen refugee Mohamed Mogouchkov, who is in custody.
After passengers on a suburban train alerted police, officers managed to ‘isolate’ the woman at the station on the capital’s south bank, leading to a standoff.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said there was also tension over the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel in the Middle East.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for unity over the war, saying France is home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish communities.
France has banned a number of pro-Palestinian rallies and fired tear gas and water cannons at those expressing support for the deaths in Gaza.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…