Kurdish victims of Paris mass shooting carried out by ‘far-right’ gunman identified as exiled singer & women’s activist
THREE Kurdish refugees have been identified as the victims of a horror mass shooting in Paris carried out by a racist gunman.
William M, 69, gunned down two men and a woman and injured at least three others in the French capital on Friday, authorities say.
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The woman who was shot dead has been named as Emine Kara – the leader of the Kurdish women’s movement in France.
She was reportedly refused asylum in the country earlier this year.
Mir Perwer, a popular Kurdish singer exiled in France, was also gunned down, along with Abdullah Kizil.
The three victims were identified by the European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress, based in Belgium.
A spokesman described them as “those who fell as martyrs in the attack on the Kurdish Cultural Centre in Paris”.
The French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the gunman “obviously wanted to target foreigners”.
And French President Emmanuel Macron said the country’s Kurds were the target of a “heinous” attack.
He tweeted: “Thoughts for the victims, those who are fighting to survive, to their families and loved ones.”
Riots broke out in Paris after the shooting, leaving at least 11 cops injured in the violence.
Dramatic pictures showed burning barricades in the streets – just minutes from the Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal.
Riot cops fired tear gas at the crowds, while protesters hurled missiles at the lines of police.
Members of the Kurdish community had earlier gathered at the scene of the shooting to mourn.
Fires were started by protesters and barricades formed as the city erupted in anger.
Emergency services were scrambled to the north of Paris just after 12pm on Friday following reports that at least eight gunshots had been heard.
The killer was reported to be a 69-year-old retired train driver, named only as William M.
The gunman is a suspected far-right extremist who was released from jail just days earlier for attacking two migrants with a sabre-type sword.
The shooting took place close to a Kurdish cultural centre on Rue d’Enghien in the 10th Arrondissement of the French capital.
It is just minutes from Gare du Nord station, where millions of Brits arrive every year on the Eurostar from Kings Cross.
The district of northern Paris has a large Kurdish population.
An investigator said: “He was armed with a gun and deliberately targeted an area full of immigrants, including recent arrivals sleeping rough.
“He threatened people in a hairdresser, a restaurant, and people close to the Ahmet-Kaya Kurdish cultural centre. He seemed intent on killing as many people as he could.”
The alleged shooter was convicted for armed violence in 2016 by a court in the multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, but appealed.
A year later he was convicted for illegally possessing a firearm.
A shopkeeper close to the scene of the shooting said she heard seven or eight shots.
“It was total panic,” she said. “We locked ourselves inside.”
A source close to the scene said: “A pensioner got into the building and appeared to start shooting at random.
“Police were called and arrested him, while also confiscating his weapon.”
A hero cop was able to wrestle the gun from the alleged killer’s hands in a hair salon to stop the horror rampage.
In 2013, three female Kurdish activists, including Sakine Cansiz, a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, were shot dead at a nearby Kurdish centre in Paris.
A Turkish citizen was charged with killing them.
