In the early hours of Friday July 2, a man caused panic in the streets of Nîmes. According to Actu 17, it was 7am when police were called to the scene where a shirtless person of about 30 years old was chasing passers-by with a sword in his hand while shouting “Allah Akbar”. When they arrived at the scene on Bachalas Street, police officers from the Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) managed to arrest the fugitive before he fled to a building on Imbert Street.
When asked by the officers, the suspect left the building with his hands up and unarmed. France 3 reports that the 40 cm sword was found in a flat. The 36-year-old man, who was taken into custody, did not realise the extent of his crime, nor did he express any regret. He even said that it was “not bad” and that “it was not for the first time”. No injuries were reported. The thirty-year-old, who was in a state of intoxication at the time of the crime, is already known to the police for an attempted homicide from 2018. According to the defendant’s family, the man would suffer from significant mental disorders, including schizophrenia.