Three people were killed and three injured in a shooting in central Paris on Friday, December 23, at a Kurdish cultural center and a hairdressing salon. The three people killed were Kurdish activists.
"An investigation has been opened on charges of murder, voluntary manslaughter and aggravated violence," prosecutors said. Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said three people hit in the shooting have died, one is in critical condition and two others are hospitalized with less serious injuries. The attacker was also wounded in the face, she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron reacted to the shooting in a tweet, deploring the "heinous attack in the heart of Paris." He also thanked the French "police forces for their courage and composure."
Les Kurdes de France ont été la cible d’une odieuse attaque au cœur de Paris. Pensées aux victimes, aux personnes q… https://t.co/tZD9VfySUX
— EmmanuelMacron (@Emmanuel Macron)
Skirmishes erupted in the neighborhood a few hours after the shooting, as members of the Kurdish community shouted slogans against the Turkish government, and police fired tear gas to disperse the increasingly agitated crowd. Some garbage bins were set on fire.
The tensions occurred as Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin was speaking to reporters nearby. Mr. Darmanin said the attacker was clearly targeting foreigners, but that police don't have evidence at this stage that he was specifically aiming to hurt Kurds. Mr. Darmanin is holding a special meeting Friday night to assess threats targeting the Kurdish community in France.
Shocked members of the Kurdish community in Paris said they had been recently warned by police of threats to Kurdish targets, and demanded justice after the shooting.
The attack took place at Ahmet-Kaya Kurdish cultural center. Agit Polat, a spokesperson for the center, said: "Once more, French authorities were unable to protect us," in reference to an attack in January 2013 that killed three Kurds. "For us, this is a terrorist attack. It takes place in a climate of tension knowingly fed by Turkey."
The shots heard shortly before midday caused panic in the rue d'Enghien – in the trendy 10th arrondissement of the capital, a bustling area of shops, restaurants and bars that is home to a large Kurdish population.
A woman who lives in the neighborhood told Le Monde she heard "four detonations around 11:40 am", and "two or three shots" a few minutes later. She said she saw bodies in front of the nearby Kurdish cultural center.
'Targeting foreigners'
Witnesses told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the gunman, described by police as white and previously charged with racist violence, initially targeted the Kurdish cultural center before entering a hairdressing salon where he was arrested by police.
The Kurdish community center is used by a charity that organizes concerts and exhibitions and helps the Kurdish diaspora in the Paris region.
The man, a retired train driver, "was clearly targeting foreigners", Mr. Darmanin told reporters, adding however that it was "not certain" that the man was aiming to kill "Kurds in particular".
The gunman was linked to two previous attempted murders in 2016 and 2021. The retired train driver was initially convicted over the first case in the multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, but freed on appeal, Ms. Beccuau told reporters without giving further details.
In the second case, he was charged with racist violence after allegedly attacking migrants sleeping in tents in the Bercy area of the city in December 2021, she added. "As for a racist motive for this case, this will obviously form part of our investigations which are starting now," she said.
The shooter was released on bail recently and suffered facial injuries on Friday, requiring hospital treatment.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called the attack "odious" in a tweet, saying: "Thoughts and full support to the victims of the deadly shooting in Paris and their relatives."
Mathilde Panot, parliamentary head of the hard-left La France Insoumise party, immediately pointed the finger at the far-right, calling it a "racist attack."
The shooter was injured and "has been taken to hospital," the mayor of the 10th arrondissement, Alexandra Cordebard, said at the scene where police have sealed off surrounding roads.
Some members of the Kurdish center could be seen weeping and hugging each other for comfort. "It's starting again. You aren't protecting us. We're being killed!" one of them cried to nearby police.
Tighter security
But the Kurdish Democratic Council of France (CDK-F), which uses the cultural center as its headquarters, said in a statement that it considered the shooting to be a "terror attack." It called for a demonstration to be held at Place de la République in Paris on Saturday at midday.
The CDK-F underlined that the shooting coincided with the 10th anniversary of the murder of three female Kurdish militants in Paris. A Turkish man was charged with the assassinations on January 9, 2013, but he died in custody before being tried.
The victims' families have long pointed the finger at Turkey for masterminding the deaths of the three women, who were shot in the head and neck, and at France for failing to investigate properly. "The Kurdish Democratic Council of France condemns in the strongest possible terms this vile terrorist attack which occurred following multiples threats from Turkey, an ally of Daesh," it said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State terror group.
Asked whether any of the victims in Friday's shooting had links to the Kurdish PKK movement, designated a terrorist organization by the EU and others, Mr. Darmanin said they appeared not to have been known to France's security services. He said he had ordered tighter security at Kurdish meeting places in France, as well as at Turkish diplomatic offices.
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Often described as the world's largest people without a state, the Kurds are a Muslim, but non-Arab ethnic group spread across Syria, Iraq and Iran, which has faced persecution and violence.
News of the shooting sent nerves jangling in a city that has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist terror groups since 2015.