The murder in Trappes is now being described as a racist terrorist attack by both the mayor of Trappes and the President of France. One person has died and several have been injured.
– What happened today marks a turning point for the Republic and our country. What happened today was a racist terrorist attack,” President Emmanuel Macron told the press on Friday evening.
The attack was, of course, tragic, and easy to condemn. If the claims that the killer was deliberately targeting victims with dark skin, or hunting down Muslims who were due to attend Friday prayers, are true, then it is clear that the attack was either racially motivated or based on hatred of Islam and Muslims.
But was this really a turning point for the republic? What about the major terrorist attacks France has already experienced?
What about the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, when 12 people were killed and 11 wounded because the magazine had published a cartoon of the so-called Prophet Muhammad?
What about the Bataclan attack on 13 November 2015? On that occasion, 130 people were killed and 416 were injured. Many of the victims were subjected to severe torture before they were killed.
What about the terrorist attack in Nice on 14 July 2016, on France’s National Day? Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel killed 86 people and injured 458 (at least 52 of them seriously) by deliberately driving a lorry into the crowd to kill as many people as possible in the name of Allah.
We also remember the teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded for showing a caricature of Muhammad in his classroom.
None of these events was described as a turning point for the Republic. None of the persistent riots, the sheer number of murders and the tens of thousands of serious sexual assaults committed by Muslims – absolutely none of this was described as a turning point.
Most incidents in which only a few people were killed were quickly forgotten. The French girls who were raped and abused are ignored.
But when one Muslim is killed, is that a turning point?
Macron says that what happened in Trappes was the first terrorist attack in France’s history against a group of people who were targeted because of their skin colour and religion, writes Visegrad 24 on X.
“He is, of course, lying, as there have been several such Islamist attacks in France in recent years that were directed against Jews or Christians.”
Macron says that today’s shooting in Trappes was aimed at migrants and was the first terrorist attack in French history against a group of people targeted because of their skin colour and religion.
He is naturally lying, as there have been several such Islamist attacks in France in recent years which were carried out against Jews or Christians.
– 2012: Mohammed Merah attacks a Jewish school in Toulouse and murders a rabbi and three children
– 2015: Amedy Coulibaly murdered four Jews at the Hypercacher kosher supermarket in Paris
– In 2016, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean stormed a church in Normandy and murdered the 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel by slitting his throat, whilst also critically wounding an 86-year-old man.
2020, Brahim Aouissaoui storms a Catholic basilica in Nice and stabs three people to death.
Macron stated today:
“What happened today is a turning point. It is the first time there has been a terrorist attack planned to kill our compatriots, our children, because of the colour of their skin or their religion”
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) 23 October 2026
It seems as though President Emmanuel Macron is trying to divert attention away from the riots that have been going on for several weeks and are set to resume tomorrow.
France has mobilised 70,000 police officers and gendarmes to try and ensure safety on the streets on Saturday. That doesn’t seem particularly impressive, given how overwhelmed 60,000 of them were last weekend.
Will 10,000 extra be enough? What if the number of protesters increases by 100,000?
It is reported that shopkeepers have acquired weapons to protect themselves and their property. Shop windows in French towns are being boarded up again, although this is unlikely to help much if the authorities fail once more.
It does not seem as though Macron and his team care much about law-abiding immigrants and ethnic French people who have to live with the chaos, threats and violence.
Only when the French authorities take serious action to halt the spiral of violence and save France – if it is not already too late – can we speak of a turning point.
Personally, I very much doubt that we will see anything of the sort any time soon. Perhaps Marine Le Pen as president could bring about some changes. But without the support of the state apparatus, it is by no means certain she will be able to save France.
The rest of Europe is blindly following in the same footsteps.
