Emmanuel Macron Assassination Plot: French Authorities Arrest 23-Year-Old Suspect
A 23-year-old man has been arrested for plotting to attack newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to the Associated Press, the suspect has been given preliminary charges of individual terrorist activity by French authorities for conspiring to assassinate Macron or attack minority groups. The man was arrested in the Argenteuil suburb on Thursday, according to Paris prosecutor's office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre.
It is believed that the suspect, who demonstrated nationalist views and was found guilty of terror-related acts last year, did not have any co-conspirators. However, it remains to be seen whether he was part of a larger network. An investigation is still ongoing.
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Thibault-Lecuivre also revealed on Monday that the man's schemes were imprecise and not yet completed. The suspect was planning to carry out the attack on Bastille Day on July 14.
According to French-language news network BFMTV (via CNN), the man apparently plotted to assassinate Macron in order to make a political statement. French authorities were able to foil the suspect's plans thanks to users of a video game site. The man had reportedly posted on the site that he was looking to purchase a Kalashnikov-type weapon to perpetrate an attack. The site's users then notified security forces. Police documents also revealed that the suspect was targeting "blacks, Arabs, Jews and homosexuals."
Macron is scheduled to attend a military parade on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Bastille Day. The French President also extended an invitation to United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
According to an official in Macron's office (via France 24), the upcoming event on Bastille Day will mark "the 100th anniversary of the US joining the war with French troops in World War I." Earlier this year, Trump made the much talked about move to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement, an accord assembled to combat climate change.
Following the parade, Macron is set to travel to Nice, where an Islamic extremist attack claimed the lives of 86 people on the same day last year.
