Louvre machete attack
Part of Islamic terrorism in Europe
LocationParis, France
Date3 February 2017
Attack type
Knife attack
WeaponsMachete
Deaths0
Injured2 (including the attacker)
PerpetratorAbdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy[1]
MotiveIslamic extremism

On 3 February 2017, an Egyptian national in France on a tourist visa was shot as he rushed a group of French soldiers guarding a principal entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, with a machete. One soldier was injured in the fight. The soldiers were patrolling the museum as part of Opération Sentinelle, guarding the Carrousel du Louvre, in which an underground shopping mall also serves as a gift shop, ticket sales office, and public entrance to the museum.

The attacker, identified as Abdullah al-Hamahmy, was confirmed by French authorities to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack, and although not having direct links, to have sympathised with and posted numerous messages on Twitter in support of the Islamic State, including calling for people to "fight in the cause of Allah and kill."[2][3][4]

French President François Hollande announced the attack was terrorist in nature.

Attack

The suspect, who was carrying two bags containing spray paint and two machetes, is alleged to have attacked and injured a soldier with a machete who was guarding the museum, shouting "Allahu Akbar".[5][6][7][8][9] Another soldier on security patrol fired five shots at him, injuring him in the stomach. He was arrested and taken for medical treatment.[9][10][11][12]

Immediately after his arrest, the suspect told authorities that he was carrying spray paint in order to deface the museum's artwork, an act that he regarded as a "symbolic" attack on France.[8][13][14][15]

Suspect

Anti-terror investigators dismissed the idea that the attacker was a "lone wolf", and believed he had been radicalized over a long time.[16]

French authorities say that no group has claimed the attempted attack and no link to extremism was found during a search of the apartment. The suspect posted on his Twitter account in Arabic in the minutes before the failed attack in which he referred once to ISIL and also wrote, "In the name of Allah... for our brothers in Syria and fighters across the world".[7]

The Egyptian Interior Ministry has identified the attacker as 29-year old Egyptian national Abdullah Reda al-Hamamy, an identity confirmed by the suspect,[7] who had entered France on a one-month tourist visa issued in Dubai on 26 January.[17][1] The French Public Minister, François Molins, confirmed the perpetrator was identified after a Visabio search.[18][19] The suspect refused to speak in the first interview with investigators after being placed in detention at a hospital,[20] but confirmed his identity in a subsequent interview.[21] The suspect's father denied allegations of his son being a terrorist.[22][23] However, investigators examining his social media accounts state that he has "sympathy for the ideas of ISIS".[13]

Paris Match called the suspect "the tourist terrorist," and described an upwardly mobile professional, from a wealthy family, graduate of a prestigious university, with a seven-month-old son and a pregnant wife, staying in Paris for ten days at a prestigious address near the Champs-Elysées, sending home artsy selfies with Paris landmarks from his iPhone 7. Nonetheless, the magazine disclosed that the suspect was carrying "bombs of aerosol paint" intended to "disfigure the masterpieces of the [Louvre] museum".[14]

In 2018, the press disclosed that the attacker's final message on Twitter was "No negotiation possible, no compromise, no ointment to pass, and certainly no return possible. There is no peace in war." He remained jailed at the Bois-d'Arcy prison.[24]

On June 24, 2021, Abdallah El-Hamahmy was sentenced to 30 years in prison with a security period of 2/3 as well as a definitive ban from French territory. The representative of the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office underlines the preparation of the attack from abroad and the persistence of El-Hamahmy's ideological adherence to Islamist theses.[25]

Aftermath

French President François Hollande "said there was 'no doubt' the attack was terrorist in nature".[26] The attack heightened anxieties in a city already reeling from a spate of recent attacks, including the November 2015 Paris attacks.[27] The city continues to increase security against terrorist attacks at major tourist attractions.[28]

The attack exacerbated fears of further decline in tourism because approximately 70% of visitors to the Louvre are foreign nationals and attendance fell by 16% in 2001, due to the September 11 attacks in the US; were off 7.5% in 2015 after the November 2015 Paris attacks and fell a further 15% in 2016, in the wake of the Bastille Day attack.[29][30] The attack was being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.[31]

References

  1. ^ a b "Louvre museum reopens; Egypt identifies machete attacker". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Le Louvre attack suspect denies acting under Isis orders after Twitter messages show support for 'Islamic state'". The Independent. 9 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Suspect in Louvre attack says he did not get orders from Islamic state". Reuters. 8 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Louvre attack: Suspect 'confirms' he is Egyptian Abdullah Hamamy". BBC News. 7 February 2017.
  5. ^ "LOUVRE ATTACK: PARIS SOLDIER SHOOTS ATTACKER WHO SHOUTED 'ALLAHU AKBAR'". Newsweek. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  6. ^ Mulholland, Roy (3 February 2017). "Louvre 'terror attack': Soldier fires at man who 'shouted Allahu Akbar' as he attempted assault with machete - latest from Paris". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "Louvre attack: Suspect 'confirms' he is Egyptian Abdullah Hamamy". BBC. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  8. ^ a b Kirby, Jen (10 February 2017). "French Authorities Foil 'Imminent' Terror Plot Against Paris". New York Magazine. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Condition of shot suspect in Louvre attack worsens". USA Today. AP. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  10. ^ Mortimer, Caroline (6 February 2017). "Le Louvre terror attack: Suspect identified as Egyptian Abdullah Reda al-Hamany". The Independent. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  11. ^ "French soldier shoots attacker at Louvre". BBC News. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  12. ^ "French Soldier Shoots, Wounds Machete-Wielding Attacker at Paris Louvre". New York Times. Reuters. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  13. ^ a b Dearden, Lizzie (9 February 2017). "Le Louvre attack suspect denies acting under Isis orders after Twitter messages show support for 'Islamic state'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  14. ^ a b Emilie Blachère (13 February 2017). "Attack at the Louvre: the tourist was a terrorist". Paris Match (in French). Retrieved 13 February 2017. Investigators found bombs of aerosol paint in his bag. No doubt to blot out the masterpieces of the museum.
  15. ^ Miranda, Rosanna (14 February 2017). "Vi racconto la jihad contro l'arte occidentale". Formiche. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  16. ^ "The Louvre terrorist would not be a 'lone wolf'". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 15 February 2020. investigations entrusted to the anti-terrorist division of the Paris prosecutor's office have progressed. According to our information, investigators do not believe in the "lone wolf" theory. Abdallah El-Hamahmy is believed to have been radicalized for a long time. "
  17. ^ "Le Louvre terror attack: Suspect identified as Egyptian Abdullah Reda al-Hamany". The Independent. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  18. ^ "Louvre attack suspect Egyptian national: Paris prosecutor". Yahoo News. Indo Asian News Service. Retrieved 7 February 2017. Molins said the attacker was not carrying an ID but a photo registered in Visabio (a European biometric database including digital photography and fingerprints of visa applicants) was the same of the machete-wielding man.
  19. ^ "Tentative d'attaque "terroriste" au musée du Louvre à Paris". Reuters (in French). Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017. The Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, said during a press conference in the evening that his life prognosis was "very probable". [...] The man did not carry papers and his identity was not formally established. But the exploitation of a cell phone found in his backpack and research on the Visabio file, during the French translation of a European database, "targeted an individual of 29 years of Egyptian nationality" residing at the United Arab Emirates, said the magistrate.
  20. ^ "Louvre attacker, in formal detention, declines to speak to investigators: source". Reuters. 5 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  21. ^ "Louvre attack suspect now talking to investigators - France 24". France 24. 7 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  22. ^ "Father of Louvre Attack Suspect Defends Son". ABC News. 5 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  23. ^ "Louvre attack: My son is no terrorist, says suspect's father". BBC News. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  24. ^ "Louvre attack: the terrorist's dark plans". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). 11 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  25. ^ "L'assaillant des militaires au Carrousel du Louvre condamné à trente ans de prison". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-26.
  26. ^ MICHAEL RIOS. "Louvre Museum attacker in life-threatening condition, French prosecutor says". PBS. Retrieved 7 February 2017. From an EU summit in Malta, French President Francois Hollande said there was "no doubt" the attack was terrorist in nature.
  27. ^ McAuley, James (10 February 2016). "After Louvre attack, France foils another terrorist plot". Washington Post. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  28. ^ Solomon, Feliz (10 February 2017). "Paris Is Building Bulletproof Walls to Protect the Eiffel Tower From Terrorist Attacks". Time. AFP. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  29. ^ Dalton, Matthew (3 February 2017). "Louvre Attack Casts Chill on Tourists". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  30. ^ ALISSA J. RUBIN, AURELIEN BREEDEN. "Assailant Near Louvre Is Shot by French Soldier". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2017. President Trump wrote on Twitter that the man was a "radical Islamic terrorist,"
  31. ^ "Paris's Louvre Museum re-opens as attack probe continues". France24. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
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