French Police Kill Suspected Strasbourg Gunman
French Police Kill Suspected Strasbourg Gunman
PARIS—French police shot dead the man suspected of carrying out the terrorist attack on Strasbourg earlier this week, officials said, ending a two-day manhunt that unsettled the country.
Police encountered the suspect, Chérif Chekatt, on Thursday evening in Strasbourg, where he was last seen two days earlier after the shooting at a famous Christmas market that left three people dead and several others wounded.
Chekatt, a suspected radical Islamist, opened fire on police, who returned fire and killed him, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.
The extremist group Islamic State on Thursday described the Strasbourg gunman as “a soldier” on its Amaq news agency, according to research group SITE Intelligence.
The Strasbourg attack shook a country already roiled by mass protests against the government by the gilets jaunes, or “yellow vests,” movement of citizens opposed to President Emmanuel Macron and his economic policies.
The return of the specter of Islamist terrorism to France appeared to take some of the wind out of the unruly protest movement, which has led to demonstrations and rioting in Paris and elsewhere in recent weeks, and has put Mr. Macron under the heaviest pressure of his presidency so far.
Mr. Macron’s government easily survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Thursday over its handling of protests, the latest hurdle in a tumultuous period for the young president. The motion, put forward by the center-left Socialists and the far-left party France Unbowed, won the support of 70 lawmakers, far short of the 289 needed.
Faced with violent antigovernment protests, Mr. Macron in recent days backed down on planned tax fuel increases and announced new measures to put cash in the pocket of an angry working class.
France’s protests are one manifestation of the antiestablishment mood across Europe, which has contributed to the rise of populist parties, pressure on mainstream politicians and the U.K.’s decision to leave the EU. British Prime Minister Theresa May survived her own no-confidence vote this week with her parliamentary Conservative party, but with stiffer opposition than Mr. Macron faced in France’s National Assembly.
Mr. Macron was in Brussels for a European Union summit Thursday, which began with leaders holding a minute of silence for the victims of the Strasbourg attack. When the news broke that Chekatt was captured and killed, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen tweeted from the meeting that “with the French police action tonight, I hope that the peace of Christmas will finally come to Strasbourg.”
The “gilets jaunes” or “yellow vests” started out protesting fuel hikes in France’s rural communities. Now, their demonstrations have turned into a national movement against President Emmanuel Macron and his government. Image: Getty
The Strasbourg attack has put further strain on French security forces, already on edge after four consecutive weekends of demonstrations across the country.
Despite heightened security across France and the new measures announced last week by Mr. Macron, many gilets jaunes were still planning to take to the streets on Saturday, according to social media.
One group created a Facebook page for an event called “Macron resignation” on Saturday. The location was given as the Élysée Palace, Mr. Macron’s official residence. On Thursday more than 10,000 people had already marked themselves as going. Another 66,000 said there were “interested.”
Some gilets jaunes, however, called for protests to stop and for negotiations with the government, amid some signs that the mood in France has become less tolerant of unruly protests following the Strasbourg attack.
“Go Christmas shopping,” said Jacline Mouraud, a driving force behind the movement, speaking on French radio on Thursday. Ms. Mouraud said protests were hurting the economy and small retailers, and the gilets jaunes needed to “transform” themselves. In October, Ms. Mouraud, 51, posted a video of herself on Facebook attacking Mr. Macron’s decision to introduce higher fuel taxes, which went viral.
Benjamin Cauchy, a spokesman for a group of gilets jaunes, invited people to go and meet their elected representatives on Saturday, instead of taking to the streets.
“It’s time for dialogue,” said Mr. Cauchy, speaking on national TV on Thursday.
For now, the government hasn’t banned protests this weekend. But authorities are seeking to discourage gilets jaunes from taking to the streets.
“What we are asking you is to be reasonable, and not to protest on Saturday,” said government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux, speaking on national TV on Thursday.
—Valentina Pop in Brussels contributed to this article.
Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com and Matthew Dalton at Matthew.Dalton@wsj.com
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