On 6 June 2017, at around 16:00 CET, French police shot a man who attacked a police officer with a hammer outside

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

cathedral on the Île de la Cité, located in the centre of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The man injured the officer with the hammer, and was found to be in possession of kitchen knives. French police opened a terrorism investigation. The accused is an Algerian-born journalist named Farid Ikken, who won an award for his prize-winning human rights writing in Sweden, before returning to Algeria where he started an online news site, and then, moved to France on a student visa, he was pursuing a PhD in communications at the time of the attack. According to the prosecutor, a video in which he pledged allegiance to

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

was found at the accused's apartment.

Context

The attack followed other attacks or attempted attacks around French landmarks in 2017, including the Louvre machete attack in February, the Orly airport attack in March, and the Champs-Elysées attack in April. French landmarks have received constant police protection because they are regarded as being "especially vulnerable," these security measures are part of a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

which has been in place in France from 2015 to late 2017. On the day following this attack, the Macron government officially announced the creation of a new intelligence task force, dubbed the National Centre for Counter Terrorism. The Centre, which had been in the planning stages for some months, is under the direct authority of the French President. Macron appointed Pierre de Bousquet de Florian to head the new Centre.

Attack

According to a police spokesman, the accused "approached a police officer, took a hammer from his backpack and hit a police officer over the head," injuring the officer. The assailant was also carrying knives. The accused reportedly shouted ''"c'est pour la Syrie"'' ("this is for Syria") during the attack, before being shot in the chest by another officer. After being shot, the accused asserted that he was "''un soldat du califat''" (a soldier of the caliphate). Immediately after the incident, Gérard Collomb, the French Minister of the Interior, said the man had a form of identification indicating he was a student from

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. Nine hundred people were locked down inside the cathedral for two hours. American diplomat and national security expert Nancy Soderberg and her 16-year-old niece were among the visitors trapped inside the Cathedral; the international press ran photos tweeted out by Soderberg showing hundreds of visitors sitting with their hands in the air.

Legal proceedings

The accused appeared in court on 10 June 2017 and was charged with associating with terrorists and attempting to murder law enforcement officials. According to prosecutor Francois Molins, the accused's laptop and USB keys contained: a manual for "lone wolves" issued by so-called Islamic State (IS); images of the London attack three days previously; videos "glorifying" earlier attacks in Paris and Brussels; and a videoed message of support for IS which Ikken had tried but failed to upload on to social media on the eve of the attack. Molins added that Ikken had never shown any sign of radicalisation to those close to him, had never been convicted, was unknown to the intelligence services and that, no signs of contact with anyone in Iraq or Syria had been found. The investigation has been assigned to the antiterrorist section of the criminal Brigade and to the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI). Prosecutor Francois Molins described Ikken as an intellectual and a successful man who had never given the slightest indication of Islamist sympathies. Molins said that Ikken had described himself as having radicalized himself over the course of 10 months. Hany Farid, Dartmouth professor and advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, cites Ikken's self-radicalization to argue that social media companies have a responsibility to crack down on incitement to violence.

Perpetrator

Farid Ikken (born 1977 in Akbou, Algeria), who was in France legally as a PhD student of communications who had been registered at the University of Lorraine,

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

campus, since 2014. His thesis advisor described him as a "strong advocate of western democracy." The ''London Times'' described Ikken as having a biography that is "far removed from those of the disaffected young extremists who have carried out a dozen attacks in France over the past three years." Jason Burke wrote about Ikken in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as an older, highly educated, man described by friends as "soft, secular" and attracted to violent jihad without being attracted to the Muslim faith, thereby demonstrating the impossibility of detecting potential terrorists by watching for particular profiles. Born in Algeria to a "middle class" family, Ikken married a Swedish national and moved to Sweden in 2004. The marriage broke up in 2004. He studied journalism in both Stockholm and Uppsala. He worked as a freelance journalist for several newspapers and a radio station. Radio Sweden has confirmed that he worked for them as an intern for 6 weeks in 2010, reporting local news in Gothenburg. Swedish Security Service (Säpo) have stated that they have no previous knowledge of Ikken. In 2011 he returned to Algeria, where he worked as a journalist, created an online newsletter, and opening a public relations agency, before deciding to return to France and earn a PhD. According to relatives, he had grown up in a secular family, but became a devout Muslim while living in Sweden. He was living in a rented flat in Cergy-Pontoise at the time of the attack. He additionally worked as a journalist in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and Algeria. In 2009 he was awarded the "National Journalist Prize" from the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

for his work in Sweden. According to the Swedish Union of Journalists, Ikken won the general category of the EU Commission's National Journalist Prize Against Discrimination for an article entitled ''Olaga vård'' ("Unlawful care") published in the newspaper '' Folket i Bild''. The article was about "asylum seekers who are not entitled to medical care and who are therefore forced to seek medical care, as well as healthcare staff and others who still provide health care to asylum seekers." Ikken described himself as gratified to have been able to bring attention to the important topics of "discrimination and diversity". He had lived in France for three years and was writing a dissertation on information science and communications. He claimed to be a "soldier of the caliphate" for the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

(ISIS). Police searched his residence and found a video in which he pledged allegiance to ISIS. According to government spokesman Christophe Castaner, Ikken "never showed any sign of radicalisation" before the attack. On the day following the attack, Ikken was hospitalized for gunshot wounds to the chest and was reported to be recovering. In October 2020 Ikken was found guilty and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Ikken showed no remorse at the verdict.

References

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