Locals in the French city of Annecy, known for its canals, pastel-painted houses and striking mountain backdrop, were in shock on Friday, one day after a man stabbed four toddlers in a playground by a lake.
Flowers, children’s toys and candles had been placed on the artificial grass at the scene of the stabbing on Thursday, during which a 32-year-old Syrian man seemed to purposefully attack preschool children aged between one and three years old as they were playing.
Two French children, one Dutch and one British, are in a critical condition in hospital in Grenoble and Geneva in neighbouring Switzerland. Two adults, both in their seventies, also suffered knife wounds. French President Emmanuel Macron visited the wounded children in hospital on Friday morning.
The attack caused widespread anger, sadness and disgust in Annecy. Many locals such as Mirella Rieffel, 62, grew up playing in the park where the attack took place, and returned regularly with their children and grandchildren as they grew older.
“It’s unforgivable to attack small children and elderly people,” Ms Rieffel told The National, shortly after laying flowers near the park’s wooden swings and climbing frames that lie by the city’s famed 19th century “love bridge”.
Swans and ducks swam by as tourists took selfies on the bridge. “Innocence under attack: what sadness!” read a note left for the victims at the park’s entrance.
Ms Rieffel wept as she explained that two of the victims were friends of her sister-in-law’s children. “It’s really hard,” she said. “Since yesterday, I have not stopped praying for them. I even lit candles in church. I hope my prayers will be heard.”
“We have a beautiful region. It’s insane that something like that happens. I hope [the assailant] is punished and locked up for a long time,” added Ms Rieffel, who used to work in one of Annecy’s upmarket lakeside hotels.
The motives of the attacker, Abdelmasih H, a Syrian who obtained refugee status in Sweden a decade ago, are still unclear. Local media has reported that police, who arrested him shortly after the attack started, has struggled to interrogate him as he rolled around on the floor screaming “kill me”.
Videos of the attack show him shouting “in the name of Jesus Christ” before stabbing the children. His ex-wife in Sweden, with whom he has a young child, has told the press that they filed for divorce and that he travelled to France late last year, where he was homeless.
“I don’t understand why the police didn’t shoot him,” said a visibly angry man in his late twenties, who declined to give his name, as he was walking with his wife and two small girls, one sleeping in a pram. “Can you believe he attacked a baby like this?” he said, uncovering the pram’s sun shade to show the girl’s face.
The couple have a habit of taking a stroll in the park every morning, but decided against it on Thursday morning as one of their daughters was napping longer than usual. “Thank God,” said the father, making the sign of the cross multiple times on his chest.
They vented their anger at the stabbing incident with Jean, a retiree in his 70s sitting on a bench who also brings his grandson to the park every Wednesday.
“I’m still trembling from shock,” said Jean, who volunteers with a local NGO that feeds homeless people. “To think that I may have given food to the attacker – I just can’t believe it.”
“Whatever your religion, whoever your God is – you can’t attack children,” said Jean.
Yet there is one man that Jean and the young parents did not have kind enough words for. A young Catholic pilgrim, already dubbed the “backpack hero”, was seen on the video of the attack trying to block Abdelmasih H from hurting more children with his backpack and chasing him for several minutes until the police arrived.
Henri, a 24-year-old management and philosophy student, told French TV that he “followed his instinct”.
"I reacted instinctively, "I did not think," he told local media. "To me, it was unthinkable not to do anything.
"I reacted how every French person should.
"Which means, I followed my instinct and did everything I could to protect the weak."
Some drew a distinction with others who were seen in the video jogging past the scene, apparently indifferent. “He deserves a medal,” said Jean.
