‘A reminder we are at war with Islamism’: French politicians react to Strasbourg shooting

After the latest deadly shooting on French soil with apparent terrorism connections, French politicians reacted to on social media. Amid an outpouring of support for the victims, some questioned France’s anti-terrorism policies.

“How many attacks must people flagged for terrorism commit before we adapt our laws to the fight against terrorism?” asked Laurent Wauquiez, the current President of The Republicans party, who served as a senior official in the cabinet of Prime Minister Francois Fillon. “What are we waiting for before we finally start fringing back against the fundamentalists, who had declared a war against us?”

Marine Le Pen of the National Rally party voiced similar thoughts in an interview with France 2. She said that while French anti-terrorism forces are doing a great job and have prevented a number of attacks this year, they can only do so much if the country fails to tackle Islamist fundamentalism as an ideology. On her Twitter account, she called for a radical change in France’s approach to terrorism.

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the leader of the Debout la France party, lamented a lack of resources allocated to fighting terrorism and called the Strasbourg attack a reminder that a war with Islamist terrorists was underway.

Socialist leader Olivier Faure called for national unity after the attack and thanked France’s security forces and the mayor of Strasbourg for the way they are responding to the tragedy.

Former president Francois Hollande expressed similar feelings, saying his thoughts went to the victims and their families and that the country needs to stay vigilant.

The attack in Strasbourg’s old city on Tuesday night claimed two lives and left 14 people injured. The shooter was flagged by the French law enforcement as a possibly radicalized person and reportedly was the target of a criminal investigation into a robbery and homicide.

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