Riots break out after a far-right shooting in Paris that left three people dead

Riots broke out in Paris near the site of a racially motivated mass shooting, which left three dead and three injured.

Emmanuel Macron said the country’s Kurdish community was the victim of a horrific attack, while his interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspect was clearly targeting foreigners.

Shots rang out on Rue d’Enghien around noon on Friday, sparking panic on a street lined with small shops and cafes in the French capital’s bustling 10th arrondissement.

Police fired tear gas as darkness fell to fend off an angry mob as projectiles were thrown at officers, trash cans and restaurant tables were overturned, and cars were damaged.

A 69-year-old man named William M. was arrested. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said he was recently released for a saber attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.

He was convicted of violent crimes with a gun in June 2016 and has appealed.

An investigative source said the attacker was “armed with a rifle and deliberately targeting an area full of immigrants, including new arrivals sleeping in the wild.”

They added: “He threatened people in a hairdresser, a restaurant and people near the Kurdish cultural center Ahmet-Kaya. He seemed determined to kill as many people as possible.”

Eyewitness Mehmet Dilek said he first heard gunshots and then screams coming from a barber shop opposite the cultural center. Bystanders suppressed the gunman as he reloaded, he added.

“It can be shocking to someone who has never worried in his life. But we grew up under the threat of guns and bombs, that’s life for us Kurds,” he continued.

The shootings are a “terrible drama,” Mayor Alexandra Cordebard told reporters. One of the injured suffered life-threatening injuries, she said.

Kurdish leaders have called for greater protection for their community, a problem facing Kurds in France since the high-profile murder of three Kurdish women a decade ago.

“Kurds should be able to live in peace and security wherever they live,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Twitter.

“Paris is now more than ever by her side in these dark times.”

Julien Verplancke, who works at another local restaurant, Chez Minna, said staff at the Kurdish restaurant burst into tears after the shooting.

Several hours later, armed police officers were still guarding a security cordon as detectives combed the crime scene.

A preliminary investigation has been launched into murder, manslaughter and aggravated assault.

Salih Azad, a prominent figure in Marseille’s Kurdish community, said he knew one of the victims, a 26-year-old woman who had lived in Paris for several years.

“She was socially and culturally well integrated,” he said.

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