The man suspected of stabbing a worshipper at a mosque in southern France during Friday prayers has turned himself in to police in Italy. As the manhunt was underway, hundreds of people gathered to pay homage to the victim and to denounce Islamophobia.
The suspect, identified as Olivier H, “turned himself in” to a police station in Pistoia, in the region around Florence in Italy, late Sunday night, announced Abdelkrim Grini, the prosecutor of Alès in the Gard department where the murder took place.
More than 70 investigators had been mobilised to locate and arrest the suspect who had been filmed by surveillance cameras in the prayer room of the Khadidja mosque in the small town of La Grande-Combe, where he stabbed Aboubakar Cissé several times.
Previously unknown to police, the suspect was born in 2004 in Lyon, in a Bosnian family.
Security reinforced at mosques
According to French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, the suspect had declared that he wanted to kill more people and become “a serial killer” in a video he made after the murder and shared on social media.
On Sunday, Retailleau said he had asked all prefects to reinforce security around all mosques in France.
Grini said that while Islamophobia was one motive being considered, “certain elements” suggested that it was “perhaps not the primary motive… or the only motive”.
But Islamophobia has been the motive most widely assumed by politicians and the hundreds of people who gathered Sunday.
"Racism and hatred based on religion can have no place in France. Freedom of worship cannot be violated," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X Sunday, extending support to "our fellow Muslim citizens".
Denouncing Islamophobia
In La Grande-Combe, some 2,000 people marched from the mosque to the town hall Sunday afternoon in memory of the victim.
"It was important that all French people, of all religions, came to condemn this barbaric act which took place in a place of worship, and to support Muslims," the president of the mosque, Salim Touazi, told France Info radio.
Among the marchers was Abdallah Zekri, vice-president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) and president of the National observatory of the fight against Islamophobia, who expressed “feelings of anger and hatred towards those who committed this crime”.
"Naturally the Muslim community is very worried,” he told RFI. “Muslims are wondering: who's next?"
'We're being targeted'
About a hundred people gathered at the Place de la République in Paris on Sunday evening to protest against Islamophobia.
"We expected it. We knew that one day, some madman or terrorist would attack Muslims. Up until now, we've been attacked verbally, and sometimes physically, with veils being ripped off. This is the logical continuation of an Islamophobia that's been on the rise for several years,” a woman named Kadija told RFI
”Not only are we not protected, but we're being targeted. The current government is putting a target on our backs," she insisted.
Yoro Cissé, the victim's brother, said that seeing the crowd “soothed my heart”.
"Yesterday it was Aboubakar, tomorrow it could be someone else. Let's all show solidarity in the face of this scourge," he told RFI
Politicians weigh in
Several politicians, including France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the head of the greens, Marine Tondelier, were also at the demonstration.
“For weeks, months and years now, everyone has been warning about the prevailing climate in our country, about this rampant Islamophobia on television, pushed by politicians and the media,” said green MP Sabrina Sebaihi, co-author of a recent report on the subject.
“When we submitted this report, we said that the issue of Islamophobia was totally underestimated and that putting a target on Muslims' backs would contribute to an increase in violence.”
Many in the crowd took aim at Retailleau, who was being interviewed on BFM television and ruled out taking part in the rally and accused France Unbowed of exploiting the crime for its own political ends.
