The French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that 'This is our Europe' in response to the terror attack in Vienna that has killed 4 people and injured dozens of others. He tweeted:
"We French share the shock and grief of the Austrian people struck this evening by an attack in the heart of their capital, Vienna. After France, a friendly country is attacked … This is our Europe. Our enemies must know who they are dealing with. We will not give up anything."
Wir, Franzosen, teilen den Schock und die Trauer von der Österreicher nach einer Angriff in Wien. Nach Frankreich ist es ein befreundetes Land, das angegriffen wird. Dies ist unser Europa. Unsere Feinde müssen wissen, mit wem sie es zu tun haben. Wir werden nichts nachgeben.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) November 2, 2020
Austrian authorities are still searching for a number of gunmen armed with assault rifles who fled the scene after the killings. It is widely thought that they are linked to ISIS and that they will not surrender without a fight or without attempting to carry out further attacks. The shootings came just as Austria was about to enter a new CoVid-19 lockdown in response to rising cases.
One of the attackers was killed in Vienna and has since been identified as a 20-year-old ISIS supporter who had previously been jailed in Austria for 22 months for attempting to go to Syria to join the jihadi group during the Syrian civil war.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also gave her support to Austria saying:
"I am shocked and saddened by the brutal attack that took place in Vienna. My thoughts are with the families of the victims and the Austrian people. Europe stands in full solidarity with Austria. We are stronger than hatred and terror."
I am shocked and saddened by the brutal attack that took place in Vienna. My thoughts are with the families of the victims and the Austrian people.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 2, 2020
Europe stands in full solidarity with Austria. We are stronger than hatred and terror.
Macron's statements have a wider significance as France has suffered three serious Islamist attacks in the past weeks. These involved a teacher being beheaded by a Chechen refugee after he had shown a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed in class, a knife attack that killed 3 outside a church in Nice, and after a Greek Orthodox priest was shot outside his church in Lyon by an attacker shouting 'Allahu Akbar', 'God is great' in Arabic.
Macron has since been embroiled in a war of words with some in the Islamic world after he suggested that the Islamic community in France was not integrating into mainstream French society and as a result of his strong defence of freedom of speech within France. A former Malaysian Prime Minister even said Muslims 'had the right to kill millions of French people' for France's prior colonial crimes.
ISIS also claimed responsibility for two separate attacks in Afghanistan that took place at an educational facility and Kabul university within the last week, killing at least 66. The terror group ISIS had been almost unheard of over the last two years after their defeat in Iraq and Syria. However, it looks as though they may have reorganised to a degree and are now able to carry out significant attacks once again.
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