Europe: In more than a month, four terrorist attacks occurred in a row; in the past two weeks, the number of confirmed cases has been increasing since the outbreak of Coronavirus.
pandemic prevention and counter-terrorism are superimposed, and Europe will face a more difficult test. Only by uniting to form a united front can it be effectively dealt with.
On the evening of November 2, local time, a mass shooting occurred in the center of Vienna, the Austrian capital. The assailants fired at the crowd from six locations.
At this time, it was less than a week since the knife attack in Nice, France on October 29. In addition to the previous knife attack near the original site of “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris and the murder of a teacher in the street on the outskirts of Paris, this was more than a month.
The fourth terrorist attack in Europe.
In the past two weeks, Coronavirus pandemic in Europe has rebounded rapidly, and many countries have restarted curfews and blockades.
Under the dual pressures of pandemic prevention and counter-terrorism, how to “fight on two fronts” in Europe has become the focus of attention of all parties.
1st Currently, the search for the shooting is still going on.
Media reports: Austrian Minister of the Interior Nehammer stated that as of the evening of the 3rd, the police had carried out 18 raids in Vienna, Linz, Sankt Polten and other places and arrested 14 persons connected with the terrorist attackers. personnel.
In addition, Switzerland also arrested two people believed to have close ties to the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks.
At around 8 pm local time on November 2nd, six different locations near the synagogue in the center of Vienna were shot by the assailants. Police arrived quickly after the shooting and killed a suspect on the spot.
As of the 3rd, the death toll in the attack had risen to 5 people, including 4 civilians and the suspect who were killed.
another media reported that the name of the suspect killed was Kuytim Fezulay, 20 years old, and born in Modlin, southern Vienna.
In 2018, he tried to travel to Syria to join the extremist organization “Islamic State” and was sentenced to 22 months in prison.
After that, he was commended and released early.
On the evening of the 3rd, the extremist organization “Islamic State” issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.
After the incident, Austrian President Van der Belen and Prime Minister Kurz successively delivered national television speeches.
Kurtz said: “We will never be intimidated by terrorism and will take all means to fight back firmly.”
2nd The terrorist attack in Vienna has aroused great concern from the international community, especially European countries.
French President Macron immediately posted a message on social media in French and German, saying that “we are as shocked and sad as the Austrian people.”
On October 29, a stab wound occurred near a church in the center of Nice, a city in southeastern France, resulting in 3 deaths and several injuries.
On October 16, a knife attack occurred on a street in the suburbs of Paris. A middle school history teacher Samuel Patty was killed.
Earlier on September 25, there was also a knife wounding incident near the original site of “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris.
In more than a month, there were four terrorist attacks in Europe, Other European countries also support Austria in unison, saying that they “will not compromise” against terrorism.
European Commission President Von der Lein said on Twitter: “The EU will fully support Austria at this time, and we will be stronger than hatred and terrorism!”
United Nations Secretary-General Guterres also issued a statement through a spokesperson, expressing his deep concern about the violent attacks in Vienna and strongly condemning them.
Guterres expressed his deep condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
3rd For the purpose of pandemic prevention, Austria originally planned to start new blockade measures on the 3rd.
The evening of the 2nd was the last night before the lockdown, and many people ate out.
In the past two weeks, Europe has set a new high in the number of confirmed cases since the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic.
According to the latest WHO statistics on November 2, the entire European region has added more than 210,000 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours.
On October 28, France and Germany announced the re-imposition of blockade measures on the same day.
United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and other countries have also taken measures to deal with the second round of the pandemic.
This means that with the combination of pandemic prevention and counter-terrorism, Europe is facing a severe test.
In recent years, as the extremist organization “Islamic State” has been hit hard, large numbers of extremists have returned to Europe and extremists have been released from prisons, the risk of terrorist attacks in Europe has been increasing.
On the 3rd, the British Ministry of the Interior announced that it would raise the level of British terrorist threat from the third level “high” to the second level “severe”.
British Home Secretary Pritty Patel said the move was a “preventive measure” and was not based on any specific threat. She reminded the public to “continue to stay alert” and report suspicious activities to the police in time.
“In recent years, under the increasingly rampant threat of terrorism, EU member states have made certain progress in intelligence sharing and other aspects.
However, since security concerns the sovereignty of each member state, cooperation among countries in the field of counter-terrorism still needs to be strengthened. There is no unified anti-terrorism policy.”
At the beginning of the year, when talking about how to combat terrorism, the European Union’s anti-terrorism coordinator Kochev said that terrorism is a common enemy faced by all European countries.
Only by joining together to form a united front can we effectively combat it. The arrogance of terrorists.
This is exactly what Macron said when he called on the EU to fight back against the “enemy attacking EU”:
“We must unite and resist the scourge of terrorism; we must work together and not make any concessions in values.”
