A man described as an emotionally disturbed neo-Nazi allegedly tried to assassinate French President Jacques Chirac on Sunday, pulling a rifle from a guitar case and firing a shot before being wrestled to the ground during a Bastille Day parade.
The man fired as Chirac rode in an open-top jeep 130 feet to 160 feet away while reviewing troops at the start of a pomp-filled military parade to celebrate Bastille Day, France's national holiday. There were no reported injuries.
As the gunman pulled a fully loaded .22-caliber rifle out of a brown guitar case, the crowd along the tree-lined edge of the Champs-Elysees began shouting, alerting police who rushed in and tackled him, apparently with the help of spectators. A government official said the gunman tried to shoot himself after the attack.
"I saw a guy with a gun," said a witness, Mohamed Chelali, who told LCI television that he and other members of the crowd helped subdue the man.
Another man knocked the rifle out of the attacker's hand and "I threw myself forward, grabbed the gun and then everyone started calling: 'Police, police,'" Chelali said. "They took a long time to come, maybe two to three minutes."
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told a news conference he had congratulated both the police and a "courageous spectator" who thwarted the attack.
It was not immediately clear if the shot came near Chirac or if it went into the air as police converged on the gunman.
Paris police said that the man, whom they did not identify, was 25 years old and a member of "neo-Nazi and hooligan" groups.
An officer close to the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the gunman was linked to a far-right student group, the Groupe Union Defense, and has a history of psychiatric problems. Police later transferred the man to a psychiatric facility, French television and radio networks said.
"It was an assassination attempt," said a government minister, Patrick Devedjian. "He admitted he wanted to kill the president." Devedjian, who is under the interior minister, said the gunman tried to shoot himself while being overcome.
Sarkozy, the interior minister, said the rifle was bought last week.
The man's motives for attacking Chirac were not immediately known. Chirac crushed his far-right opponent, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the second round of France's presidential election in May, winning 82 percent of the vote and a second term.
Devedjian said the gunman was from "the extreme, extreme right, even further right than the National Front."
Le Pen denied any connection to the gunman and condemned "all assassination attempts aimed at the representative of the state."
"I was sure that if a madman one day fired at the president, then it would be said in one way or another that he was from the extreme right," Le Pen said.
The attempt on Chirac comes as several European countries are facing a resurgence in support for far-right groups. Such movements have won votes by playing on fears of immigration, crime and economic stagnation.
Pim Fortuyn, the popular leader of the Netherlands' right-wing movement, was shot to death on May 6 in Amsterdam. Dutch police arrested a 32-year-old environment and animal rights activist on suspicion of assassinating him.
France was shocked by Le Pen's strong showing in the first round of the presidential elections, when he knocked former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out of the race.
Bernadette Chirac, the president's wife, also said "yes, clearly," when asked if the gunman was trying to kill her husband.
Despite the attack, the Bastille Day parade, a colorful pageant with troops, armored vehicles and aircraft roaring overhead, continued uninterrupted.
The man was arrested at the top of the Champs-Elysees where it empties into Place Charles de Gaulle, site of the famous Arc de Triomphe. He managed to reach the flag-bedecked Champs-Elysees despite heavy security. Police lined the avenue and mingled with crowds along the route.
In a traditional televised interview after the parade, Chirac was not asked about the assassination attempt and did not mention it.
He called for reform of France's asylum laws, faster processing of asylum requests, more effective measures against smugglers of illegal immigrants and a stronger French military.
Chirac's electoral triumph in May was followed in June by legislative elections won by his conservative allies, ending five years of Socialist government that had restricted the president power to act.
"I want to act now with determination and, I would say, with enthusiasm," Chirac said in Sunday's interview from his presidential Elysee Palace. He said he hoped "to give fresh impetus to France."
Later, Chirac hosted an annual Bastille Day garden party for thousands of invited guests on the palace grounds.
He made no reference to the assassination attempt in a brief appearance. After saluting the bravery of New York firefighters, who were invited guests, he dove into the crowd with a smile to shake hands.
(China Daily July 15, 2002)
