“I can understand that people could be shocked by the caricatures but I will never accept that violence can be justified,” Emmanuel Macron said.
He could understand if Muslims were shocked by cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, said French President Emmanuel Macron, as French authorities on Saturday sought to ascertain if a young Tunisian suspected of killing three people in a knife rampage inside a Nice church had outside help, NDTV reported.
Charlie Hebdo weekly’s cartoons of Prophet Mohammed were republished in early September, since then France has been on edge. The publishing of cartoons was followed by an attack outside its former offices, the beheading of a teacher and now the attack in Nice.
“France would never renounce its right to caricature”, President Macron had said after killing of the teacher Samuel Paty — who had shown his class a cartoon of Mohammed — a statement which sparked protests in the Muslim world.
However, in an apparent bid to reach out to Muslims, Macron gave a long interview setting out his vision to Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera, seeking to strike a softer tone.
“I can understand that people could be shocked by the caricatures but I will never accept that violence can be justified,” Emmanuel Macron said.
“I consider it our duty to protect our freedoms and our rights,” Macron added.
The French are still reeling from the latest attack in Nice which Macron has already described as “Islamist” terror.
21 years old Brahim Issaoui came from Tunisia last month and, according to prosecutors, killed the sexton, a Brazilian woman and a French woman in the attack in the Notre-Dame Basilica on Thursday morning.
The attacker was shot by the police several times and is currently in a grave condition in the hospital. His motives remain unclear since investigators have not been able to question him.
“It is still too early to say if there were others complicit, what his motivations were in coming to France and when this idea took root in him,” a source close to the inquiry said, on the condition of anonymity.
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