Man ‘shouting Allahu Akbar’ drives car into a crowd in France before being wrestled to the ground by bystanders
- A 32-year-old man has been arrested in southern France after driving his car towards a crowd of 50 people outside a bar on Thursday night
- The man was stopped by crash barriers and luckily only two people were hurt
- Crowd then chased down and beat the suspect, who was shouting Allahu Akbar
- He is now being held in police custody on suspicion of attempted murder
A man has been arrested after driving his car into a crowd of people outside a bar in southern France while shouting Allahu Akbar, witnesses and local officials said.
The 32-year-old suspect, believed to be a local, sped towards a crowd of about 50 outside the bar at around 1:00 am Thursday, witnesses said.
However, his white Peugeot ran into barriers set up for the town’s annual grape-harvesting festival featuring bull-fighting which attracts thousands of people.
Several witnesses told AFP that the man shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ – God is Greatest in Arabic – during the incident.
A source close to the investigation said the man was not known to police for suspected radicalisation.
The region’s public prosecutor Eric Maurel said the suspect tried to flee but was caught and roughed up by the crowd.
He was in a state of ‘mental confusion’ during his arrest and has been hospitalised, Maurel added.
The man is being held on suspicion of attempted murder.
A police spokesman declined to comment on the man’s motives, but said the investigation was being handled by regular police rather than anti-terror police.
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