The suspect in the shooting of a Greek Orthodox priest has been released by authorities in France as they do not believe he was involved in the crime. This, of course, means that the shooter is still at large.
The individual first apprehended is a homeless person who has since been discharged to a psychiatric clinic. They say there is no evidence he was involved in the shooting in any way.
Father Nikolaos Kakavelakis was hit with two shots from a sawn-off shotgun by an attacker who was heard to shout 'Allahu Akbar', 'God is great', in Arabic. France has been the focus of recent Islamic extremism as a result of French President Emmanuel Macron's comments in which he stated that he believed the Islamic community in France was not adapting to mainstream French society.
In October, a French history teacher was beheaded by a Chechen refugee after the teacher showed a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Mohammed in class during a debate on freedom of speech. The teacher had allowed Muslim students to leave class before the image was shown. Christos Koutsiouris, a senior member of the church, told reporters that one week before the shooting, Father Nikolaos had been attacked by men of North African descent who stole his cross. He told reporters:
"I do not know who committed this crime. What I do know is that last Sunday Father Nikolaos told me that he was jogging on the banks of the Rhône and that five Algerians or Moroccans surrounded him, made fun of him, and in the end beat him and took his cross."
Some reports in France have suggested that the attack was the result of a disagreement within the Orthodox church, or that it could have been perpetrated by the far-right in order to stoke up anti-immigrant sentiment.
Macron has called the attack the work of Islamic terrorists.
Since the start of the decade, France has lost almost 300 citizens as a result of Islamic extremism, including the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, the Marseille truck attack, and the attack on the Bataclan nightclub. France is a famously secular society and bans religion in the public sphere, including in schools, where Islamic headscarves are banned. Full-face Islamic coverings are also banned in public. It is thought that a majority of the Muslim community supports these measures.
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