Four children, 1 adult injured in mass stabbing in French Alps
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Transcript
00:00 We begin with breaking news here in France.
00:03 Four children and one adult have been injured in a stabbing attack in the city of Ancy.
00:07 Now, Ancy is in the Alps in eastern France.
00:10 In a tweet, the country's interior minister has confirmed the attack, saying that several
00:14 people were hurt and that the attacker has been taken into custody.
00:19 And for more on this, I'm joined on set by France 24's Charlie James.
00:23 So Charlie, what's the latest?
00:24 What do we know?
00:25 Monty, this is truly every parent's nightmare.
00:28 Drop your kid off at school.
00:30 They were headed for a field trip to a nearby park and a man came and attacked, targeted
00:38 these children.
00:39 They are said to be between three and five years old.
00:43 So the exact number of people stabbed at this time has not been confirmed by police, but
00:48 reports say that it is at least four children and one adult.
00:53 Three of those children are said to be in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
00:58 Now, videos from the scene show police, several police, overpowering a man.
01:05 And we don't have that many details about who did this.
01:07 The interior minister of France has said that it was a male and that he was arrested and
01:13 is in police custody.
01:15 French media is reporting that it is a Syrian asylum seeker who is responsible for this.
01:22 But at this time, the police are not saying very much about who this attacker is.
01:27 What's the status of the investigation and how are French authorities responding?
01:31 Right.
01:32 So France is no stranger to public attacks we've seen through over the past decade, especially.
01:39 However, children being involved, being targeted like this, of course, brings it to a new level
01:44 of horror.
01:46 The French president, Emmanuel Macron, called this an attack of absolute cowardice.
01:51 The French prime minister, Elizabeth Borne, is on her way to the scene.
01:55 And the National Assembly this morning held a moment of silence in support of the victims.
02:00 Now, the mayor of the city of Annecy is set to hold a press conference at 12.30 p.m. local
02:06 time.
02:07 That's in less than a half an hour.
02:08 So we should be getting more details then because, Monty, of course, as you know, in
02:12 these breaking news situations, it's a very fluid picture.
02:16 This is what we know right now.
02:18 But that could change in just a matter of minutes as we get more information.
02:22 And as you say, when children are involved, it's certainly an element of terror.
02:25 We don't know this is connected to terrorism, but there's certainly a level of terrorism
02:29 involved when you're talking about children.
02:31 OK, Charlie, thanks so much for that.
02:33 Will certainly keep us posted on any new developments.