let's bring you some breaking news from
france now there are reports from the
southern french city of nice
saying that at least two people have
been killed several people are reported
to have been injured
in a knife attack near a church police
have shot and arrested the attacker and
the city's mayor says it believes it was
a terrorist attack we're joined now by
our correspondents
in paris hugh schofield hugh tell us
more what are you hearing
um this was at nine o'clock this morning
so about an hour ago an hour and a
quarter ago um
and a man broke or went into the church
of notre dame the las sons
basilica in the right in the center of
nice
um and he had a knife of some kind and
he attacked
people it seems he started the attack
inside the church
um and we're told now that there are
certainly officially two dead and there
are media reports of a third dead
um police were quickly at the scene of
course right in the city center they
wouldn't have been far away
shots were fired either in or near
the church and the man
was injured wounded and taken into
custody
so that's all we know so far there's
been a crisis meeting called at the
interior ministry
the prime minister has just left the
national assembly where a debate was on
about covid
to go to attend this emergency meeting
the context is all here of course the
context of this is
the you know stage one two three four
five six seven eight of the charlie
hebdo uh
um prophet muhammed cartoons affair um
in the context of threats and menaces
against france um
issued from all over the middle east and
the islamic
islamist world if you like um clearly
this is something that people
fear the government was afraid would
happen we had the attack
and murder two weeks ago samuel patty
the teacher and um
now this which looks on the face of it
like it might well be connected as well
just to add uh hugh while we've been
talking uh reuters have just said that
local french police have confirmed that
three people are feared to have died
from the knife attack
in nice today
what will this mean then for the city of
nice in terms of
security well i mean every city
in in the country has got tight security
now um
nice is a city which suffered in its own
terrible way on july the 14th bastille
day 2016 when there was a
a terrorist attack of a kind with the
rampaging lorry down
the sea front which killed was it 70 80
people
um it's uh it's like any other city i
mean it's got a very mixed population
but so does every city
in france nowadays um this i think
will raise questions about the security
of churches
um what on the face of it
looks like is happening is that after
the threats issued from various groups
and the criticism of france attacks on
france from various governments in the
in the middle east because of the
aftermath of the charlemagne president
macron's determination to
insist upon the right of publications to
publish the
cartoons muhammad if they so wish as a
result of the heightening tensions
uh there there there have been threats
issued against france and
it looks like quite this is certainly
the working theory
that once again an individual is used
the
means available to him and life uh
to attack um french people um
and if that is the case um and we're
we're entering really a kind of
uh a war of symbols a war of blood um
but you know with with the churches
being the target because they are the
equivalent of of mosques in the mind of
the islamists
then obviously that raises all sorts of
issues about the security of churches um
it's it's a very very worrying
development indeed for the moment hugh
thank you very much you scofield
in paris