French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux on Thursday called on the so-called Yellow Vest movement demanding better living standards for low- and midlle income earners not to hold another weekend of protests because of the strain placed on police and security forces after this week's terrorist attack in Strasbourg.
The Bank of France announced Thursday it has revised downwards its growth forcasts for 2018 and 2019 to 1.5%, instead of a previous prediction of 1.6%, but did not include 10 billion euros in tax cuts brought forward to next year and extra spending announced this week by President Emmanuel Macron in a major concession to protestors demanding higher living standards for low- and middle-income earners.
A massive manhunt for Cherif Chekatt, the chief suspect in the Tuesday evening shooting spree on the streets of Strasbourg, which left three people dead and 13 others wounded, including one who is described as brain-dead, ended on Thursday evening when the 29-year-old died in a firefight with police in the eastern French city.
A Thai tourist was among two people killed and an Italian journalist and a garagist of Afghan origin were reported to be among the 13 others wounded in a shooting spree on the streets of Strasbourg on Tuesday evening when a gunman, apparently acting alone and who witnesses say shouted "god is greater" in Arabic, succeeded in escaping the scene.
In a message he posted on Twitter on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump, currently battling for approval of a budget to beef up immigration barriers with a wall on the US border with Mexico, cited the terrorist shooting spree on Tuesday in Strasbourg to justify a clampdown on migrants, apparently ignorant of the fact that the suspect in the attack was born in the the eastern French city.
Chérif Chekatt, the 29-year-old Strasbourg-born man currently wanted as the chief suspect for the deadly street shooting spree in the city on Tuesday evening when two people were killed and 13 others wounded, had served prison sentences for 27 different convictions in France, Germany and Switzerland, notably for armed robbery and assault, and was, according to the French interior ministry, drawn to radical Islamic circles while in jail.
More than 700 French police and security personnel are involved in the search for a 29-year-old man, who had been monitered by internal intelligence services as a potential terrorist risk, after two people were killed and 13 others wounded, one of who was left brain-dead, in a shooting on Tuesday evening the streets of the eastern city of Strasbourg.
A gunman identified on CCTV footage, and reportedly known to French internal intelligence services as a supporter of radical Islamic movements, has evaded arrest after three people were shot dead and at least 12 others wounded on the streets of the city of Strasbourg in eastern France, when an army security patrol wounded the 29-year-old before his escape.
In an attempt to defuse growing social unrest, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a televised address on monday a 100-euro rise of the minimum monthly wage, the removal of a tax on pensions below 2,000 euros per month, the ending of taxation on overtime payments and encouraged employers to offer a tax-free end-of-year bonus to employees.
French President Emmanuel Macron is to make a televised address to the nation on Monday evening in a much awaited first public reaction to the social unrest that has swept the country since mid-November, when he is expected to announce policy measures to defuse the crisis.
