Europe on the edge as COVID lockdowns are linked to terror

The shooting took place a few hours before a midnight nationwide lockdown began to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The extreme measures in Austria are among several bans being imposed across Europe, including France, where 67 million have just passed a second bans as tens of thousands infect the virus across the continent.

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After two terrorist attacks in France – the first was the brutal attack in Paris when a Muslim teenager beheaded a school teacher in the streets of Paris and his death in Nice – President Emmanuel Macron declared his country “under attack”.

“We will never give in,” he wrote on Twitter.

“We respect all differences in the spirit of peace. We do not accept hate speech and we defend sensible debates. We will always stand on the side of human dignity and universal values. ”

In the hours following the attack in Vienna, President Macron used social media to send his support to Austria and wrote that the shooting brought “shock and sadness” to his country.

“We French share the shock and grief of the Austrians after an attack in Vienna,” he wrote on Twitter.

“After France, it is a friendly country that is under attack. This is our Europe. Our enemies need to know who they are dealing with. We won’t give in to anything. ”

But the growing number of deadly attacks, as more countries across the continent are locked down, has inevitably put Europe at risk.

“What’s wrong with the world,” commented one person on Twitter after the Austrian attack.

“Two weeks ago a history teacher was throttled in France, a few days ago there was an attack in my hometown (Nice) and a victim died in my favorite café and tonight an attack in Vienna exactly where I was only two before Days. I’m absolutely choking, ”added another.

“To be honest, WTF has taken place in Europe in the last few days. Terrorist attacks in different countries … It’s just too sad, “added another.

Experts say President Macron’s response to the attacks in France and his administration’s position to defend the right to publish derogatory religious cartoons have sparked angry protests and calls to boycott French products around the world.

About 2,000 people tried to march to the French embassy in Islamabad but were pushed back by police, who fired tear gas and beat demonstrators with batons.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted on Sunday that Mr. Macron had decided to “promote Islamophobia by attacking Islam, not the terrorists,” as protesters chanted slogans including “Beheading is the only punishment for blasphemers”.

In an address to the nation after the Nice attacks, Macron blamed the attacks on “Islamist separatism” and the “creation of a (Muslim) counter-society” in France, which is still on high alert.

He said the growing Muslim presence is a threat to France as it has its own laws before anyone else.

Mr. Macron said some Muslim parents kept their children away from school, group sports and community activities as a “pretext to teach principles that are inconsistent with republican law.”

To prevent this from happening, the president announced his plans to pass a legislative proposal essentially banning schooling for children of all ages and preventing foreign-trained imams from running French mosques.

The goal, said the president, is “to build an Islam in France that is compatible with the Enlightenment”.