2014 Nantes attack

2014 Nantes attack
Location of Loire-Atlantique within France
Location	Nantes, France
Date	22 December 2014
Target	Civilians
Attack type	Vehicular assault
Weapons	White van
Deaths	1
Non-fatal injuries	10 (including the suspect)
Motive	Radical Islamism

On 22 December 2014, a man in the French city of Nantes ran over ten pedestrians in his white van at the city's Christmas market, and then attempted suicide by stabbing himself. One person was pronounced clinically dead the following day.

The attack came a day after a similar automotive attack on pedestrians in Dijon, and two days after a stabbing attack inside a police station in Joué-lès-Tours. Although the three attacks were treated as unrelated, the French government deployed 300 soldiers onto the nation's streets to heighten security afterwards.^[1]

The attack was "apparently inspired by a video" circulated by ISIL calling on French Muslims to attack non-Muslims using vehicles.^[2]

Suspect

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that the attacker in Nantes was "unbalanced".^[1] There were initial reports that the attacker had shouted the Islamic war cry Allahu Akbar ("God is Great"), as the Dijon attacker had done the previous night. However, police stated that a notebook in his van contained "incoherent suicidal phrases".^[3] The question of whether the attack should be understood as motivated by radical Islamism is disputed.^[4]

Reaction

Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet announced an investigation into the Nantes attack, saying "I wouldn't say it was a terrorist attack. I would call it a deliberate act".

François Hollande, the President of France, ordered an emergency cabinet meeting as a result of the third attack in Nantes.

Manuel Valls, the Prime Minister of France, aimed to reassure the French public that their concerns over the incidents would be listened to by the government.^[1]

References