France Increases Alert Status After Arras Attack

France has increased its alert status after the terrorist attack that took place in Arras on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has made the decision to increase the country’s alert status to ’emergency attack’ after a teacher was killed in the northern town of Arras, whilst two more were left seriously wounded, in a terrorist attack at a school.

The move will see 7,000 soldiers mobilised around the country, after Macron met for an emergency briefing with his security cabinet.

French authorities have opened anti-terror investigations after the Arras attack, with the culprit having a record of Islamic radicalisation.

What happened in Arras?

A man armed with a knife killed a teacher and left two other people wounded at a high school in Arras, with him arrested on the scene by French police.

The attack happened at the Gambetta high school, with police and witnesses saying the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” before stabbing the teacher and commencing the attack.

He has been named as 18-year-old Mohammed Mogouchkov, and he was a former student at the school, with French authorities already monitoring him before the attack.

Macron speaks after Arras attack

Macron visited the school on Friday afternoon, and spoke to gathered people outside in the school courtyard, calling for people to stand united in the face of terror.

He said: “the choice is made not to give in to terror, not to let anything divide us.”

France has had a tragic recent history involving terror attacks, and this is the latest in a list of them.

With the geopolitical stage so unstable, there is clear division in the world at the moment, and it is so often the case that innocent civilians are paying the price.

Here, a schoolteacher was the victim of an appalling crime, and Macron will hope his decisions to raise the alert level will prevent fresh attacks in the near future.