He threatens to slit the throat of a man, to “blow up” a gas station in Versailles and shouts “Allahu akbar”

Big scare Tuesday evening at the gas station on rue des Études-Généraux, in the heart of Versailles (Yvelines). Around 9:45 p.m., a man showed up at this small Total station in the city center located a stone's throw from the town hall and the castle. There, he accosts a motorist who is refueling. And then orders him to hand over his vehicle, showing himself to be very threatening.

“Give me your car, I’m going to slit your throat,” he then told his victim, a young man of 20 living in Paris. The stranger accentuates his threat of action by adding “it’s my evening” and that he is ready to “blow up the gas station”, specifies a police source. Then he begins to recite surahs from the Koran and shout “Allahu akbar”.

Alerted, the police intervened very quickly on the spot and easily arrested this 32-year-old man. Previously, this resident of Versailles had already been arrested for acts of a completely different nature. The psychiatric examination, at the time, concluded that his discernment had been abolished. The victim was not injured.

Placed in police custody at the Versailles police station for advocating terrorism, repeated death threats and attempted theft, the thirty-year-old from Versailles was not heard following his new medical examination aimed at determining his mental state. He was hospitalized immediately.

The hypothesis of the act of an unbalanced person was corroborated this Thursday morning by a person present at the time of the events. “He was on the road when he shouted Allahou Akbar and attacked the motorist,” describes a witness to the scene to Le Parisien. And in my opinion, he wasn't well, he looked like he was sick. He must not have taken his medication. »

Already, on Christmas Day, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 15 km away, a 50-year-old outsider described as “disturbed” appeared in front of the church, opposite the castle, shouting “Allahu akbar.” Then he showed his buttocks to the few faithful present. Arrested with difficulty, he was prosecuted for sexual exhibition and violence against the police. The terrorist nature was not retained.

A few months earlier, in Reims (Marne), a heavily intoxicated man had also shouted “Allahu akbar” in the tram and threatened to blow himself up with a bomb which turned out to be fake. The psychiatric examination showed no problems. He was taken into custody.