A large-scale police operation took place at Les Corneilles primary school in Cortaillod in the canton of Neuchâtel to arrest a threatening man. He had broken into the school and is said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar”.
Fear and terror at the school in Cortaillod in the canton of Neuchâtel. Teachers and pupils at Les Corneilles primary school witnessed a man entering the school in the afternoon. The man is said to have made threatening remarks and shouted the words “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest in Arabic), among other things, as witnesses reported on site and the police confirmed. The 300 pupils were taken to safety in their classrooms until the police arrived and the person was arrested. No one was injured and everyone was able to leave the school building at around 4pm.
Apart from his threatening remarks, the man was obviously unbalanced. So far, police have not been able to determine if he was armed. At the time of the intrusion, an alarm was triggered (amok procedure, which is designed to alert the emergency services in the event of an attack or threat to the general public) – this is the first time that this has happened in the canton – so that the police were able to intervene quickly. “The teachers reacted in an exemplary manner,” said Georges-André Lozouet, spokesperson for the Neuchâtel cantonal police, in an interview with RTS. Parents were able to pick up their children on time at the end of the school day. The tension was great and psychological support was organised. Le Temps
