According to reports obtained by Le JDD, the man deliberately drove his van backwards into the monument before securing it with a belt and knocking it over. The man, who is of Turkish origin, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before starting to pray at the scene.
When the police arrived, the man behaved calmly but spoke incoherent religious words. It turned out that the person suffered from repeated psychological problems. His wife confirmed that he had already been admitted to a psychiatric facility at the beginning of May. www.lejdd.fr