Paris, April 28, 2025 — The Europe Today: President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday firmly denounced racism and religious hatred in France following the brutal stabbing death of a Muslim worshipper inside a mosque in the southern village of La Grand-Combe.
“Racism and hatred based on religion can have no place in France. Freedom of worship cannot be violated,” Macron wrote on X, extending his support to “our fellow Muslim citizens” in his first public comments since Friday’s killing.The attacker, identified as a 20-year-old French citizen of Bosnian origin, remains at large. According to authorities, the suspect stabbed the victim — a young Malian man in his 20s — dozens of times while shouting insults against Islam, before filming the assault on a mobile phone. The footage was subsequently shared with another individual and briefly appeared on social media before being deleted.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou earlier condemned the act as an “Islamophobic atrocity.” The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) and the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) also expressed outrage, describing the killing as a “despicable crime” and an “anti-Muslim terrorist attack.”The incident occurred when the attacker, initially praying alongside the victim inside the Khadija Mosque, launched the fatal assault before fleeing. The victim’s body was discovered later by worshippers arriving for Friday prayers.
Regional prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini warned that the suspect, identified only as Olivier and described as unemployed with no prior criminal record, is considered “potentially extremely dangerous.” Efforts to apprehend him are ongoing.
In response to the tragedy, a protest against Islamophobia was planned for Sunday evening in Paris.
The motive behind the attack remains under investigation.
