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France Tag

An unidentified gunman shot a Greek Orthodox priest on Saturday afternoon at a church in the French city of Lyon. The priest sustained serious injuries and is "fighting for his life," news reports said. Police have launched a manhunt around the city. "Security and emergency personnel are at the scene," France's Interior Ministry said, urging people to "avoid the area" where the shooting took place.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called for a boycott of French goods over the country's response to a school teacher's beheading in Paris.

"Never give credit to French-labelled goods, don't buy them," he said in a televised speech. "I am calling to all my citizens from here to never help French brands or buy them." 

Police in France have arrested a Muslim leader who reportedly issued a fatwa, or the Islamic death warrant, on the school teacher beheaded in Paris on Friday, the French-language newspaper Le Soir confirmed on Monday. The suspect, Abdelhakim Sefrioui, leads an organization called "Cheikh Yassine Collective," which was set up in the memory of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the slain founder of the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas.

A French teacher was beheaded by an Islamist in a Paris suburb on Friday for discussing Muhammad caricatures with his class. The knife-wielding attacker, identified as an 18-year-old immigrant, shouted "Allahu Akbar" at the scene of the gruesome killing, media reports say. The jihadi was shot dead after he charged at the police following the gruesome killing. 

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has reprinted the Mohammed cartoons as the trials for the 2015 Islamic terror attack begins at a Paris court this week. "We will never lie down. We will never give up," magazine's editor Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau wrote in its latest edition.

France has deployed riot police in the country's second biggest city Marseille to enforce face mask rules aimed at quelling the spread of Wuhan coronavirus. "Government spokesperson Gabriel Attal announced on Monday that 130 police officers are being sent to Marseille, a coastal city in south-eastern France," French TV channel EuroNews reported.  

Europe witnessed a wave of anti-lockdown protests on Saturday. Germany saw a huge surge in demonstrations. Thousands came out in Berlin, Munich, and Stuttgart against the measures imposed in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Police used tear gas to disperse protesters in Warsaw, Poland and arrests were made in London's Hyde park, the European media reported.

European governments are moving towards the easing of Wuhan coronavirus lockdowns, media reports suggest. Many European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, have begun working on their respective "exit plans" to restore normalcy as the spread of coronavirus in their countries slows down.

Almost a week after the United Kingdom left the European Union, French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday unveiled a pan-European nuclear doctrine as part of country's new military strategy. "The vital interests of France now have a European dimension," he declared during the graduation ceremony at the French War College, l'Ecole de Guerre. Following Brexit, France is now the only nuclear power within the EU.

The recent G7 economic summit included exchanges between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and French President Emmanuel Macron that was nearly as heated as the Amazon wildfires. During the summit, the G7 nations had agreed to send aid to fight the fires in the Amazon. Brazil rejected that offer, with a concise reminder about the Notre Dame blaze and European deforestation.