Annecy, a postcard city at the foot of the French Alps, asked herself several questions this Friday, between tears and flowers, but above all one to which no one could find the answer: how is it possible to attack such brutal children in such a brutal way? little ones? The idyllic park where half the town has been raised and where it now raises its children saw yesterday how part of this memory was stolen after a man attacked several children between two and three years old with a knife in a swing area .
Nobody understands anything. Delphine has just left some flowers, she has two children and tells, through tears that it is the park where they have grown up, she too. "It's where they play, where we come to have a picnic... Annecy has grown up in this place, which is part of our life and now this monster has come to take a part of it from us. The children ask questions, but how do you explain this to them? ", the Mint.
It is mid-morning and in Le Pâquier, an immense meadow with views of the mountains and a lake, the children's play area where the children were attacked is quickly filling up with flowers, messages of affection, drawings, stuffed animals, candles... As if you wanted to create a kind of fortress against the brutality that had been experienced hours before on the same stage. Families with their children, the elderly, children, adolescents, athletes... Everyone took the opportunity to leave their support, in the form of a flower or a handwritten note. Most found it hard to contain their excitement.
Vik has gone with his parents to drop off flowers. She is riding a tricycle. Her father has accompanied him, but it was the little one who has gone, somewhat fearful, to leave them with the others. As if he didn't want to delegate love to him. She is three years old, the same age as some of the children injured yesterday. Her mother, very excited, explains that she passed through that area the day before while she strokes her son's head. "She's the same age," she says, very excited.
Leo is older, he is eight, and he is already aware that the image he had of the park from his childhood will no longer be the same. "I have brought some flowers as a token of affection so that the children can recover soon. When I was younger, when I left school I told my mother: 'Take me to the boat park. I didn't come anymore but I think from now on I'm going to have a good and a bad memory at the same time", he says.
The affection of the neighbors travels kilometers. David has come from the next town to bring flowers and a doll on which he has written the names of the minors attacked: "Ennio, Alba, Peter, Manuel". "We have all grown up in this park. I am devastated, I do not understand how someone can attack children," he says, also visibly shocked. "Dear children, I don't know you but I know that at this time you are fighting. All my support. Love remains. Horror goes away," says one of the notes.
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Annecy after noon, accompanied by his wife, Brigitte Macron, after having been at the Grenoble hospital, where three of the four injured minors are admitted. Two of the four are in serious condition, in addition to another 78-year-old man.
Macron has been to the prefecture and has met "the heroes of Annecy": policemen, gendarmes, health workers, citizens like Henri, the 24-year-old boy who, with his backpack, tried to make the attacker flee and who has already been nicknamed as "the hero of the backpack". In an informal meeting, he has thanked them for his intervention.
"All the families of the victims are aware of the speed, efficiency and collaboration despite the pressure," said Macron, who has pointed out that "attacking children is the greatest barbarism there is."
He has said that the two children who were most seriously ill are stable and the doctors are optimistic. "You have not only fulfilled your duty, you have done more and that image of France that you have given is the one we believe in," she said.
The detainee, a 31-year-old Syrian refugee, remains in police custody. At the moment, it is not known what motivated him to attack the children. He had been living in Annecy for several months, where he slept on the street and had refugee status in Sweden. He was in legal situation. On Thursday he could not be questioned because he "was very agitated", he fell to the ground several times and said incoherently, police sources have assured the French media.
It is the most serious attack that the alpine town has experienced. "I've been living here all my life and nothing like it had ever happened," says Bavette through tears, another of the people who has taken the opportunity to leave some flowers. "This is a magnificent city, a place of scenery, look what a park..." she says.
The emotion and trauma that this brutal attack has caused is palpable in every corner. In the Royal brasserie, the saleswoman hides in the back room and rinses her eyes. Because while she is standing waiting for clients to come, she suddenly thinks about what happened yesterday and gets excited. "I can't help it. It's just that I'm very affected. How is it possible?", She justifies herself. A question that will remain unanswered.
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