France goes to the polls on Sunday under heavy security in a presidential election clouded by a threat of more terrorism like the attack that left a policeman and his killer dead on the Champs-Elysee in Paris on Thursday.
Some 50,000 police officers and gendarmes, and 7,000 soldiers, will be on duty throughout the country amid fears that ISIL or its sympathisers may try to mount another operation.
Police officer Xavier Jugele, 37, was shot dead and two colleagues were wounded, along with a female German tourist, when 39-year-old Karim Cheurfi opened fire with an assault rifle on a police vehicle.
The shooting caused panic among the crowds on one of the world’s most famous avenues. Shoppers, restaurant diners, cinema-goers and spectators at a cabaret show were unable to leave for two hours after the shooting, which happened around 9pm local time.
One witness who gave his name as Chelloug, a kitchen assistant, said he was leaving a shop when he saw a man get out of a car and open fire with a rifle on a policeman.
“The policeman fell down,” he said. “I heard six shots, I was afraid. I have a two-year-old girl and I thought I was going to die ... He shot straight at the police officer.”
ISIL quickly admitted it carried out the murder via its online propaganda agency Amaq, calling Cheurfi a “soldier of the Caliphate”.
But it also named him as Abu Yusuf Al Bejiki, indicating he was Belgian. But the name was unknown to the Belgian authorities, raising suspicion among investigators, and some security analysts, that this was an opportunistic claim of responsibility.
Cheurfi was a French national with a history of violence, including previous attacks on police officers in 2001 which earned him a 20-year jail sentence — later reduced to 15 — for attempted murder.
A pump-action shotgun and knives were recovered from his car. Investigators also found a copy of the Qu’ran — though there is no evidence he had shown serious interest in religion — and a document referring to ISIL. During a news conference, antiterrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said the document — described as a note defending ISIL — apparently fell out of Cheurfi’s pocket.
The GPS system of his car revealed entries for the addresses of arms suppliers, the headquarters of a French intelligence agency and a police station in Seine-et-Marne, the area on the outskirts of Paris where he was born and lived.
Some reports suggested the authorities had become aware of encrypted online activity in which he spoke of wanting to kill police officers, but when questioned by police, in February, he apparently showed no signs of radicalisation and there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.
Three members of his family were questioned yesterday. Cheurfi lived with his mother in the multi-ethnic suburb of Chelles, a 30-minute train journey east of Paris, where neighbours described him as a friendless oddball who seemed “like he was from Mars”.
“Everyone knew him here,” said one. “He was someone who had lost all reason, who was psychologically very damaged.”
Another local man, 2-year-old Abdel, said Cheurfi had been influenced by his repeated experiences in prison. “He hated the police and France,” he said.
Salim, a family acquaintance, said Cheurfi never went to mosque and was “nuts” and “could hardly use a remote controller for the television. Go on the internet and contact Daesh (Islamic State)? I can’t see it.”
The murdered policeman was among the officers who responded to the gun and bomb attack on Bataclan concert hall in Paris in November 2015, the most murderous of a wave of the attacks on Paris, which killed 130 people. Jugele was there again a few days before the first anniversary of the attack when the venue reopened with a concert headlined by Sting. In an interview with People Crime, a US website, he told of how happy he was to be at the “symbolic” reopening, saying, “We’re here tonight as witnesses, to defend our civic values. This concert is to celebrate life. To say `No’ to terrorists.”
The French president Francois Hollande visited the hospital where Jugele’s two wounded colleagues were treated. They, and the injured German tourist, were said to be out danger.
The attack, coinciding with the final televised debate featuring all 11 candidates in the first round of the election, came two days after two men were held in the southern city of Marseilles for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on the election campaign.
An arsenal of guns and explosives was found in a flat rented under false names by 29-year-old Mahiedine Merabet and Clément Baur, 23, who converted to Islam in his mid-teens.
Both have criminal records and although their past offences were not connected to terrorism, they were known to the intelligence services, having become radicalised while in jail together.
Although no specific target or even location was confirmed, French media speculated that the men may have been planning to attack the centre-right candidate Francois Fillon. Police distributed their photographs to the security personnel protecting the candidates who were thought to be potentially at risk.
Mr Fillon said yesterday that if elected, he would seek a global coalition — controversially including not only the United States but Russia to fight “Islamist totalitarianism”.
“My foreign policy would be focused, in priority, on destroying Islamic State [ISIL],” he said. “This will only be possible the day the major powers will truly act together ... From Washington to Moscow, I will take the initiative of an international coalition against Islamist terrorism”.
Mr Fillon has been criticised by opponents for his friendly attitude towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia, but said: “The more the United States, Europe, Russia, Iran, Turkey and the Gulf countries are divided, the more victory against Islamist totalitarianism will be postponed.”
Tomorrow’s first round of voting is not expected to produce an outright winner but the two leading contenders will then fight a deciding second round two weeks later, giving the police and intelligence service more security headaches as they seek to guard against the possibility of further attacks.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae with additional reporting by * Agence France-Presse
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
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THURSDAY'S FIXTURES
4pm Maratha Arabians v Northern Warriors
6.15pm Deccan Gladiators v Pune Devils
8.30pm Delhi Bulls v Bangla Tigers
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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ACL Elite (West) - fixtures
Monday, Sept 30
Al Sadd v Esteghlal (8pm)
Persepolis v Pakhtakor (8pm)
Al Wasl v Al Ahli (8pm)
Al Nassr v Al Rayyan (10pm)
Tuesday, Oct 1
Al Hilal v Al Shorta (10pm)
Al Gharafa v Al Ain (10pm)
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
2nd row
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-GP)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
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Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing)
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Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
Sergio Perez (Force India)
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Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Haas)
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Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Esteban Ocon (Force India)
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Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
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Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
Lance Stroll (Williams)
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Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
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WWE Super ShowDown results
Seth Rollins beat Baron Corbin to retain his WWE Universal title
Finn Balor defeated Andrade to stay WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns
Lars Sullivan won by disqualification against Lucha House Party
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Kofi Kingston wins against Dolph Zigggler to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Mansoor Al Shehail won the 50-man Battle Royal
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Winner: Grand Dauphin, Gerald Mosse, Ahmed Al Shemaili
8.05pm: Handicap (T); Dh190,000; 1,800m
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Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
