- Title: Macron pays tribute to murdered priest, one year on
- Date: 26th July 2017
- Summary: SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, FRANCE (JULY 26, 2017) (AGENCY POOL) CROWD WAITING FOR MACRON'S SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON SAYING: "Jacques Hamel's face has become the face of what, in ourselves, refuses this culture of death and this arrogant terrorism. Jacques Hamel's smile has become this smile of resistance, the one of humanism, that made him stand tall in the face of obscurantism." CROWD DURING SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON SAYING: "By assassinating Father Hamel right below his altar, the two terrorists probably thought they would sow, among the French Catholics, a thirst for revenge and reprisal. They failed." PEOPLE NEAR CHURCH (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON SAYING: "In these troubled times, when so many of your brothers and so many of our fellow citizens suffer from terrorism, or some form of persecution, you (the citizens of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray) continue being the builders of peace. And the example of calm you offered to France demands all of our gratitude." VARIOUS OF MACRON GREETING CROWD MACRON TALKING WITH FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER GERARD COLLOMB VARIOUS OF MACRON LEAVING
- Embargoed: 9th August 2017 11:11
- Keywords: Pere Hamel priest murder Islamist Normandy Macron tribute to father Jacques Hael Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouvray
- Location: SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, FRANCE
- City: SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,International/National Security
- Reuters ID: LVA0036RCT8HZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: **EDITORS PLEASE NOTE 2040-EUROPE-ATTACKS_FRANCE-PRIEST-ANNIVERSARY-FILE CONTAINS ARCHIVE VIDEO OF PRIEST JACQUES HAMEL AND FILE IMAGES OF AFTERMATH OF ATTACK**
France marked on Wednesday (July 26) the one-year anniversary of the murder of Father Jacques Hamel by Islamist militants in a Normandy church, in a commemoration attended by President Emmanuel Macron and other government officials.
On July 26th 2017, Hamel was saying mass in the small town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near the northern city of Rouen, when two militants stormed in, forced the 85-year-old to his knees and slit his throat.
A mass was held in the same church and at the same time of the attack, which was carried out by assailants linked to Islamic State. They took four other people hostage, one of whom was seriously wounded.
Macron said Hamel was a symbol of humanism in the face of extremism, and praised the townspeople of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray for their example of sobriety following the tragedy.
The attack was the first on a church in western Europe. It came just 12 days after a Tunisian who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State drove his truck through a crowd of Bastille Day revellers in Nice city, killing 84 people.
Islamist militants have killed more than 200 people in France since January 2015. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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