Two people and eleven others were injured in a shooting at Strasbourg's Christmas Market known as Capitale de Noel.
French authorities are characterizing the attack as an act of terrorism. A suspect is in custody has not been identified, but is known to authorities. So there's a good chance an Islamist is responsible. We are less than two years removed from the ramming attack at the Berlin Christmas Market which claimed the lives of 12 people while injuring 56.
On a personal note, I spent one of the most glorious weeks of my life in Strasbourg while working as a parliamentary intern for the late Scottish Labour MP Jimmy Wray back in April 1995. We were attending a Council of Europe meeting. For most European parliamentarians in attendance it was a four day holiday and who could blamed them?
Strasbourg is the most beautiful city I have ever traversed. I loved walking from the Hotel de France to the Council headquarters as I was kept company by lush green trees and bright pink flowers. The week I was there was the week of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Now terror has hit Strasbourg like virtually all the other cities in which I have spent any extended period of time - Ottawa, London, Boston and New York. But for the grace of God, I can count my blessings that I have never been witness so such carnage. Knock on wood.
UPDATE: The suspect has been identified as Chérif Chekatt, a 29-year old French native of Moroccan descent. He remains at large and is believed to have made his way to Germany. Chekatt was heard to have shouted "Allahu Akbar!" when he began shooting.
True to form, instead of consoling the victims and their families, President Trump used the attack as an opportunity to take to Twitter to demand "Chuck and Nancy" get him votes on Border Security despite the fact Chekatt was born in France.
Nevertheless this attack will have political ramifications for French President Macron. Besieged by nearly a month of violent protests against his economic policies, the revelation that Chekatt's home had been raided earlier that day by authorities where weapons were found without taking him into custody will not inspire confidence in the French public.
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