France: The attack on an imam was not Islamophobic, the perpetrator was a drunken Algerian migrant. Islamist groups had tried to use the matter for their own ends
An imam in the Rue Saint-Nicolas was attacked in the street in Nancy on Thursday “for no apparent reason”, according to the Nancy public prosecutor’s office. The suspected perpetrator, an Algerian national, was drunk at the time of the attack and allegedly sprayed tear gas into the window of a restaurant.
Nancy police arrested a drunk man in Nancy on Thursday. The Algerian national allegedly attacked an imam in the Rue Saint-Nicolas by punching him “for no apparent reason”, said François Pérain, the public prosecutor of Nancy.
The suspect also allegedly pulled a machete out of his pocket and sprayed the window of a restaurant with tear gas.
In police custody, the man stated that he could not remember anything. A psychiatric report is to be drawn up “to shed light on this incident”, explains the public prosecutor’s office in Nancy. www.francebleu.fr