"Isn't it odd that right after Macron gives some crumbs to the Yellow Vest's demands, a "terrorist attack" happens; in the home of the European Parliament, no less. Never waste a perfect opportunity to remind the people 'why they need us' (and centering the attack in the home of the EU Parliament should be a good signal to the rest of the EU who are thinking about joining the protests, for good measure)."
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Sott.net / The Guardian
France has upgraded its security threat level as hundreds of police hunted a gunman who shot three people dead and injured 12 others in a terror attack on Strasbourg's celebrated Christmas market on Tuesday evening.
Six hours after the gunman disappeared after firing at passers-by in the busy city centre, the interior minister, Christophe Castaner, said the government had raised the risk level to the highest category.
The move would strengthen border controls and bolster protection of Christmas markets and other events.
In a statement, Castaner said the gunman had opened fire in three different places in the city before engaging in firefights with patrolling soldiers.
"He fought twice with our security forces," Castaner said.
French media reported the man, who was injured in one of the exchanges, then jumped in a taxi and disappeared.
Comment: He fled in a taxi??
Police immediately cut off major roads in and out of the city and launched a massive operation involving 350 police gendarmes and soldiers, as well as helicopters, to find him. French security services said they had identified the gunman as a 29-year-old born in Strasbourg, known to police and also on the "Fiche S" list of potential security threats.
French media reported that gendarmes had attempted to arrest the man for a separate crime at his home in the Neudorf district of south-east Strasbourg earlier on Tuesday. The suspect was not home, but officers reportedly found grenades in his apartment.
Shortly before 8pm local time, the man, armed with an automatic rifle, walked over one of the city's many bridges around the Grand Île toward the Christmas market, which attracts millions of visitors every year. Witnesses said the man fired a first volley of rounds and then walked down the street before opening fire again.
Local resident Yoann Bazard said he heard "two or three shots" and screams; and when he went to his window he saw people running. "After that I closed the shutters. Then I heard more shots, closer this time. There were two or three episodes like that ... As it got close, it was really shocking. There were a lot of screams."
Freelance journalist Camille Belsoeur said he was at a friend's apartment in the city centre and at first mistook the gunfire for firecrackers. "We opened the window. I saw a soldier firing shots, about 12 to 15 shots," he said.
He said other soldiers yelled for people to stay indoors and shouted "Go home! Go home!" to those outside.
One of the dead was said to be a Thai tourist who was shot in the head outside a restaurant. Staff and diners tried to save him but were unsuccessful. Six of the injured were reported to be in a critical condition.
The anti-terrorist section of the Paris prosecutor's office declared the incident to be an act of terrorism and announced an inquiry had been opened into "murder and attempted murder in relation to a criminal enterprise".
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, immediately held a crisis meeting at the interior ministry in Paris.
The gunman reportedly shot at soldiers patrolling as part of the nationwide Operation Sentinelle, the French military operation introduced in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in and around Paris in January 2015, and was injured when they fired back.
Comment: So a known criminal with grenades in his apartment evaded arrest and was on the loose earlier in the day before the shooting, with police apparently actively looking for him before the attack. Were the Operation Sentinel soldiers aware of this?
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