He opened fire at a petrol station, a clinic and a playground outside Paris: Macron calls the attack racist terrorism

A 39-year-old man opened fire with an automatic weapon at three locations in Trappes, a suburb of Paris: at a petrol station, outside a medical centre and at a children's playground. One person is dead and five are wounded - among them a 12-year-old girl. The suspect, identified by the authorities as Kevin T., has been arrested.

The choice of places says enough: these are where people stop for fuel, wait to see a doctor or take their kids to play. None of them is a symbol of power or a military target.

President Emmanuel Macron called the attack a "terrorist and racist" act. "What happened today, I tell you, is a turning point, because for the first time we have a terrorist attack planned with the aim of killing our compatriots, our children, on the basis of the colour of their skin or their religion," he told reporters.

The mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, whose parents come from Morocco, was even more direct: the shooting was "racist" and "Islamophobic." "The people who were targeted today could easily have been my mother, my brothers or my sisters-in-law," he said. According to Rabeh, two of the victims are of African and North African origin. The mayor of neighbouring La Verrière, Nicolas Dainville, described the suspect as "a European type."

The shooting came in a heated atmosphere. Last Saturday, nationwide protests in France turned violent, and new ones have been called for this weekend. Some far-right politicians blamed immigration for the looting and vandalism in French cities on October 17.

The responsibility lies with the man who held the gun, and no political rhetoric changes that. But Rabeh called for a joint condemnation of words that, in his view, "ideologically arm those capable of such acts." When politicians point the finger at entire groups of people, how long does it take before someone takes it literally?

The Balkans learned this lesson the hardest way: words that divide people by religion and origin rarely stay just words. The anti-terrorism prosecutor's office, known as PNAT, has officially opened an investigation. Will France hear the message before the next weekend of protests?