three people have been killed in a knife
attack in the french city of nice
it happened near a church and the mayor
of nisa said that everything suggests
it was a terrorist attack the suspect
who witnesses say tried to behead one of
his victims
was shot by police and is now being
treated in hospital president macron
is on his way to the city paul adams has
this report
chaos and terror in the heart of another
french city
streets closed swarming with police and
paramedics
the stunned aftermath of france's latest
horrific attack
it took place around nine in the morning
in the city's neo-gothic basilica of
notre dame
shouting allahu akbar the attacker
stabbed three people
including the caretaker one of the
victims is thought to have been beheaded
another a woman fled to a nearby cafe
before dying
we heard many people um shouting in the
streets
so we we
we saw by the windows that there were
many many many policemen
coming and then we are gunshots
many gunshots and more and more
policemen the city's mayor called for
unity
but said it was clear this was terrorism
perhaps more than any other place in
france today is paying far too heavier
price by once again
being a victim of islamic fascism there
is no doubt about the meaning of this
act
given that the perpetrator did not stop
repeating
in front of us while he was receiving
medical treatment
in paris a minute silence in the
national assembly as word of events in
nice began to emerge
president macron is traveling to nice
with the whole country now entering
a new coronavirus lockdown he has two
major crises on his hands
france is still in shock after the
murder of middle school teacher samuel
patty
most french citizens proudly defending
their country's secular values
for nice memories 2 of 2016 when 86
people celebrating bastille day
were killed by a tunisian immigrant
driving a truck
but around the muslim world there's
anger at what some describe
as president macron's anti-islam agenda
pakistan's prime minister imran khan has
accused the french president of
encouraging islamophobia
turkey's president erdogan has urged
turks to boycott french goods
and said monsieur macron needed a mental
health check
against this heated international
backdrop and with an investigation in
nice just beginning
reports of violence elsewhere in another
southern city avignon
the police shot dead a suspected
islamist who was threatening passers-by
and in saudi arabia a guard at the
french consulate in jeddah was attacked
the guard was wounded and the assailant
taken into custody
paul adams bbc news and we can join
hugh schofield in paris uh what is the
latest you're hearing on these horrific
events in the issue
well the latest is that the president
macron has arrived at the scene and is
talking right now to the mayor at the
basilica and
talking to police officers as well and
he may or may not
uh have a few words for the press coming
up uh shortly
um meanwhile of course the investigation
is
underway and it'll seek to establish a
the identity of this attacker we still
don't know
who who it is and b did he have any
accomplices
was he in any way influenced by this
climate
uh that paul adams was referring to then
his report this climate
of menace and threat against france
which has certainly grown
over the last uh few weeks the context
is all here
it's very important it is a time in
which france definitely feels itself in
the firing line from extremist groups
in the middle east certainly online
their calls for attacks against france
have been stepped up in recent weeks
in the wake of the trial of related to
the charlie hebdo
massacre and the republication by
shawnee hebdo of of the cartoons and
then the killing of course two weeks ago
of the
the teacher samuel patty and uh and
the re restatement then by president
macron of france's belief
and um the fact that it will stand by
its secular values that's been spun uh
the french would say
twisted by people in the middle east
many in the middle east into
an uh into being interpreted as a kind
of anti-islamic
position by the uh by the french
authorities with macron being accused
of you know enacting racist even so
1930s style fascist
actions against against muslims um in in
france
and it's in that context that the
government here is very aware
that this attack has taken place all
right hugh many thanks indeed you
scofield left us in paris