French police have arrested a 23-year-old man who they say was plotting to kill French president Emmanuel Macron after posting that he wanted a gun on a public video game forum.
The 23-year-old was arrested in Argenteuil near the French capital of Paris last Wednesday and is said to be connected with the “ultra-right” and various nationalist circles. Police say he is under investigation for plotting a terror attack though say they have no evidence he worked with anyone else, L’Express reports.
Police say on June 27th the unemployed young man posted several messages on a public online video game forum asking where he could purchase a firearm. The police were notified by other users of the forum and arrested the man the following day.
Shortly after the arrest, police began investigating the threat posed by the man and found information that he wanted to kill French president Emmanuel Macron during the Bastille Day parade on July 14th in Paris. They also claim the suspect was inspired by the Columbine massacre shooters and considered himself “anti-system” and”anti-immigrant”.
The suspect was charged and convicted of inciting racial hatred and apologising for terrorism in 2016. He was sentenced to three years in prison with a suspended sentence. In 2014, he had also been convicted of possessing explosives.
No firearms were found in the suspect’s residence, but multiple knives were found. The suspect’s computer revealed he had been surveilling at least three other targets according to a source close to the investigation.
As Islamic terrorist incidents grow in number and left wing extremist violence grows, so too has far right extremist incidents across Europe.
The most recent in Britain being the van attack perpetrated by Welsh resident Darren Osborne near the Finsbury Park Mosque in London. Osborne was said to have been purposely targeting Muslim worshippers in response to the terror attacks in London and Manchester.
In France, just outside of Paris, an Armenian man attempted the same style of attack but did not injure anyone as cars blocked his 4×4 from hitting anyone outside the entrance of the Créteil mosque. He was arrested 10 minutes after fleeing the scene by police who later claimed the man’s motivation was revenge for the Bataclan attack in 2015.
In the German town of Freital, counter-terrorism police arrested several neo-Nazis in April they claimed had been attacking nearby asylum homes with fireworks and rocks. Later in May, it was revealed that a German soldier had pretended to be an asylum seeker in another far right plot leading to 100,000 asylum cases needing to be reexamined by authorities.
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