A 'far-right extremist' has been arrested for plotting to shoot French President Emmanuel Macron in front of Donald Trump on Bastille Day.
The plot, by the unnamed 23-year-old Frenchman, was foiled when he tried to get hold of a Kalashnikov assault rifle online.
Prosecuting sources in the French capital said the man was from the 'extreme-right' and wanted to murder Mr Macron, as well as 'blacks, Arabs, Jews and homosexuals'.
He was indicted with terrorism offences last Saturday, with details of the case released today.
A 'far-right extremist' has been arrested for plotting to shoot French President Emmanuel Macron in front of Donald Trump on Bastille Day. Macron and the US President are pictured shaking hands at a meeting in Brussels in May
The suspect, who comes from the Paris area, planned to target Mr Macron as he took the salute at the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14.
President Trump will be this year's guest of honour on France's national day, which recalls the storming of the Bastille fortress during the French Revolution of 1789.
One of the biggest security operations in French history will unfold on the Champs Elysee and the Place de la Concorde for the event, which will involve thousands of French and American troops.
The would-be attacker mentioned his search for a weapon on a video games forum that was being monitored by intelligence officers.
When anti-terrorism police turned up at his flat in the suburb of Argenteuil last Wednesday, he threatened them with a kitchen knife.
The suspect, who comes from the Paris area, planned to target Mr Macron as he took the salute at the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14. Bastille Day celebrations in Paris last year are pictured above
He was overpowered and placed in custody, while searches of his car found further weapons.
Prosecuting sources told the RMC radio station that the man was 'psychologically disturbed but determined'.
This morning, it emerged that the suspect received a three year prison sentence last year for 'condoning terrorism' and 'spreading racist hate', 18 months of which were suspended.
Data on his computer revealed that he was an apologist for neo-Nazi mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bomb and gun attack in Norway in 2011.
Three kitchen knives were found in man's car.
His profile was said to resemble that of Maxime Brunerie, who fired at President Jacques Chirac during the Bastille Day parade in 2002.
Brunerie was a neo-Nazi who was sentenced to ten years in prison before being released in 2009.
The OAS Secret Army Organisation also regularly plotted to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle as they campaigned against the loss of the French colony of Algeria in the early 1960s.
The antics of the far-Right terrorist group, which was mainly made up of army and police officers, were fictionalised in the Frederick Forsyth novel 'The Day of the Jackal'.
It was made into a hit film staring Edward Fox as the assassin and Michel Lonsdale as the detective who foils him.
President Macron, who became president in May aged only 39, has already received a number of death threats, including ones contained in menacing letters and emails.
France remains under a State of Emergency following a series of attacks by Islamic State and al-Qaeda, including one in Paris in November 2015 in which 130 people were killed.
Whiteout- on July 3rd, 2017 at 14:04 UTC »
Sheesh, I'm conservative in a lot of ways, but lets call a spade a spade. Dude is a terrorist. He was trying to commit violence for political reasons, so he's a terrorist. Lets not reserve that term for Islamists, because they aren't the only ones.
November2nd on July 3rd, 2017 at 10:20 UTC »
I hate posting Daily Mail articles, but the BBC hasn't covered it yet. Here is the full text for those who don't want to give the Mail any ad revenue:
"A 'far-right extremist' has been arrested for plotting to shoot French President Emmanuel Macron in front of Donald Trump on Bastille Day.
The plot, by the unnamed 23-year-old Frenchman, was foiled when he tried to get hold of a Kalashnikov assault rifle online.
Prosecuting sources in the French capital said the man was from the 'extreme-right' and wanted to murder Mr Macron, as well as 'blacks, Arabs, Jews and homosexuals'.
He was indicted with terrorism offences last Saturday, with details of the case released today.
The suspect, who comes from the Paris area, planned to target Mr Macron as he took the salute at the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14.
President Trump will be this year's guest of honour on France's national day, which recalls the storming of the Bastille fortress during the French Revolution of 1789."
A French source also says that he resisted arrest with a knife. Two other knives were found in his car, but no firearm.
Same source also talks about the last time someone tried to assassinate the President on a 14th of July. In 2002, a neo-nazi militant actually shot at President Chirac, who was only 20 meters away, but missed.
(Worth noting: 2002 and 2017 are the two years that saw a Le Pen get to the second round of the presidential election)
EDIT: the Mail is also wrong about the origin of France's national day. It only celebrates indirectly the storming of the Bastille in Paris during the revolution of 1789, what it really celebrates is the "Fête de la Fédération" that happened all over the country in 1790. The King's head was still on his shoulders and the Reign of Terror hadn't started yet. It was one of the greatest moments of calm and unity the country would know in a long time.
WowJones on July 3rd, 2017 at 10:00 UTC »
Dang, how horrible. Glad to read that he was caught.