French bishops join tributes to
slain gendarme Arnaud Beltrame
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| A picture of French gendarme Arnaud Beltrame outside the Interior Ministry during a day of national mourning on Wednesday.- AFP |
A day of national mourning has been held in France for the
police officer and three other victims of a terrorist attack in the city of
Carcassonne last Friday
By Philippa Hitchen
A national day of mourning has been held in France to honour
the police officer who was killed after he took the place of a woman hostage
during an attack on a supermarket near the southern city of Carcassonne.
French President Emmanuel Macron led tributes on Wednesday
to Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame, one of four victims of a shooting spree by an
Islamist gunman that has shocked the nation.
Tributes for the 44-year-old gendarme began with a minute's
silence in police barracks across the country, before his flag-draped coffin was
driven through the streets of Paris.
Despite heavy rain, crowds lined the roads as the funeral
procession made its way to the former military hospital, Les Invalides, where
Macron spoke of Beltrame’s bravery and altruism.
Hostages taken in supermarket
The gendarme led a team that was called to a supermarket in
the town of Trèbes last Friday, after Moroccan-born gunman, Radouane Lakdim,
killed an employee and a customer, before taking others hostage. Minutes
earlier he had stolen a car, shooting dead the driver and firing on a group of
policemen.
Beltrame talked to the terrorist, offering himself in
exchange for a woman being held as a human shield. He put down his gun and left
his mobile phone on, so that colleagues could hear what was happening inside
the store.
When special forces stormed the building and shot dead the
attacker, they found Beltrame with bullet and knife wounds in the neck. He was
rushed to hospital where he died the following morning.
Pope's condolences to victims
Pope Francis sent a message of condolences in the wake of
the attack, mentioning in particular, Beltrame’s “generous and heroic”
gesture.
He said: “I renew my condemnation for such acts of violence
that cause so much pain and fervently ask the Lord for the gift of peace.”
France’s Catholic bishops also issued a statement saying
that Beltrame’s heroic example of giving his life for others will bear fruits
in a society that is scarred by violence and self-absorption.
Bishops praise heroism
The Church leaders said Catholics, throughout this Holy
Week, will pray for all victims of terror attacks, especially those in the
towns of Trèbes and Carcassonne, as well as asking God’s blessing on those
charged with maintaining public security.
Friday's terror attack was the first since President Macron
lifted a two-year state of emergency, imposed after militants killed 130 people
in coordinated attacks in Paris, in November 2015.
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