By Gosuke Kawano
Rabat – A 23-year-old, self-professed “far-right nationalist” was charged on Saturday following a threat to assassinate French President Emmanuel Macron during Paris’ Bastille Day parade on July 14, French judicial sources have said.
According to RMC, the unnamed man used a chat room on an online game to express his desire to obtain a Kalashnikov to carry out his planned attack.
Although his plot remains unclear, three kitchen knives were found in his vehicle, and analysis of his computer revealed that he had conducted internet searches on potential targets.
Besides his plot to kill the French president, the man also said he wanted to murder minorities including “Muslims, Jews, blacks, homosexuals,” said the source.
It seems the 23-year old was influenced by past mass shootings including the Columbine massacre, which a police source told L’Express he had praised. It was also revealed the man had lauded neo-Nazi murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who in 2011 slaughtered 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage in Norway.
Back in 2016, the would-be assailant was convicted for condoning terrorism and sentenced to three years in prison, of which 18 months were suspended.
Neo-Nazi sympathizer Maxime Brunerie attempted to assassinate former President Jacques Chirac on Bastille Day in 2002.
Despite this murder threat, the parade will continue to take place on Champs-Elysees on July 14.
