Thursday's attack in a church in the French city of Nice may aggravate religious tensions in France, but not Nice itself, where religious communities know one another well, Gil Florini, the senior priest at Nice Centre, told Sputnik
NICE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2020) Thursday's attack in a church in the French city of Nice may aggravate religious tensions in France, but not Nice itself, where religious communities know one another well, Gil Florini, the senior priest at Nice Centre, told Sputnik.
Three people were killed in a knife attack in the church of Notre-Dame de Nice. According to media reports, two of the victims died from beheading. The perpetrator was detained by the police. The anti-terrorism department of prosecutors has joined the investigation.
"In Nice, the community knows one another. I am speaking of an actual community, people who practice their religion, whether Jews, Muslims, Catholics, or Protestants, we often meet, so we know one another. So I don't think the tensions will go out of control, because of this knowing [one another], this real relationship we have," Florini said, when asked if the latest attack could worsen religious tensions in France.
The religious communities in Nice are "pacified," but in the rest of the country, there are people who do not know one another that well, Florini said
"In Nice, a lot of effort has been made since a long time ago, for 20-30 years ... to meet, to do things together ... There are always small tensions, but I don't think there will be big ones," the priest said.
At the same time, there are people who remain outside of the community, Florini said.
"[The attacker] is definitely on his own. You know, the people who believe that God is speaking to them, who exercise the will of God, who are fanatics" the priest said.
Florini said he knew one of the victims personally.
"I knew Vincent, the two others, the women, no. They were two parishioners who came to pray. But I knew Vincent, the sacristan, who was a dad, had two daughters," he said.
Nice's attack was followed by a knife-stabbing attempt in France's southeastern city of Avignon and another knife assault at the French Consulate in Saudi Arabia. Earlier in October, a school teacher was beheaded in Parisian suburb after showing Muhammad cartoons at a lesson.
