2014 Dijon attack

Vehicle ramming attack in Dijon, France 2014 Dijon attack File:Côte-d’Or-Position.svg Location of Côte-d'Or within France Dijon, France 21 December 2014 Vehicle-ramming attack 0 13 (two seriously) Car Islamic terrorism On 21 December 2014, a man in the French city of Dijon was arrested after a vehicle-ramming attack in which he drove a van into pedestrians in five areas of the city in the space of half an hour. Thirteen people were injured, two of them seriously. The alleged perpetrator had a record of mental disorder and no known links with terrorist groups. The local prosecutor said the incident was not linked to terrorism and the Interior Ministry believed that he had acted alone, although anti-terrorism investigators opened an inquiry into the attack. Attack In the space of half an hour, the alleged attacker, identified only as Nacer B, drove a Renault Clio van into groups of pedestrians in five separate areas of the city.France attack: Van driven into shoppers in Nantes https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30583390 16 February 2017 BBC 3 December 2014France Dijon: Driver targets city pedestrians https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30571911 22 December 2014 BBC News 21 December 2014 Thirteen people were injured; two of them sustained serious injuries.Mazzetti Mark In the Age of ISIS, Who's a Terrorist, and Who's Simply Deranged? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/world/europe/in-the-age-of-isis-whos-a-terrorist-and-whos-simply-deranged.html?_r=0 16 October 2017 The New York Times 17 July 2016 The accused allegedly shouted Allahu Akbar, brandished a knife, and claimed that he was "acting on behalf of the children of Palestine."Corner Emily Is There a Nexus Between Terrorist Involvement and Mental Health in the Age of the Islamic State? CTC Sentinel January 2017 10 1 1 https://ctc.usma.edu/posts/is-there-a-nexus-between-terrorist-involvement-and-mental-health-in-the-age-of-the-islamic-state 16 October 2017 13 June 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170613144343/https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/is-there-a-nexus-between-terrorist-involvement-and-mental-health-in-the-age-of-the-islamic-state dead According to Dijon city prosecutor, Marie-Christine Tarrare, the accused had become “very agitated” after watching a television program about the plight of children in Chechnya. Suspect The man arrested was reported to be "40-year-old man of Arab origin" and "Algerian and Moroccan descent."Lichfield John France 'terrorism': Three 'lone wolf' attacks in three days – so should the country be worried? https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-terrorism-three-lone-wolf-attacks-in-three-days-so-should-the-country-be-worried-9941764.html https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-terrorism-three-lone-wolf-attacks-in-three-days-so-should-the-country-be-worried-9941764.html 1 May 2022 subscription 16 February 2017 The Independent 23 December 2014Breeden Aurelien France Puts More Troops on Streets After a String of Attacks https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/world/europe/french-authorities-appeal-for-calm-after-string-of-attacks.html 16 February 2017 The New York Times 23 December 2014 He had been known to the police for minor offenses committed over the course of 20 years, and had repeatedly been treated for “serious and long-established psychiatric issues”. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve described him as "very unstable". The local prosecutor said the incident was not linked to terrorism and the Interior Ministry believed that he had acted alone, although anti-terrorism investigators opened an inquiry into the attack. The Times described Dijon as an "apparently lone-wolf Islamist attack."Establishment fears Le Pen will be victor of France's new war The Times 8 January 2015 1643103778 The Financial Times described it together with the attacks in Tours and Nantes as "the first Isis-linked attacks in the country."Jones Sam France emerges as main focus for terrorists Financial Times 15 July 2016 1811254498 According to The Globe and Mail, this attack was "apparently inspired by a video" circulated by ISIL calling on French Muslims to attack non-Muslims using vehicles.Martin Patrick History of lone-wolf vehicle attacks suggests risk of emulation is very real https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/history-of-lone-wolf-vehicle-attacks-suggests-risk-of-emulation-is-very-real/article30933070/ 15 July 2016 The Globe and Mail 15 July 2016 According to David C. Rapoport of the University of California, Los Angeles, these three attacks can be understood in the context of the rise of the Islamic State in Syria. "In September 2014, after the U.S. organized its airstrikes, the Islamic State’s chief spokesman called on Muslims in Western countries to find an infidel and ‘smash his head with a rock’, poison him, run him over with a car or ‘destroy his crops’. Two months later a video released in French contained virtually the same message, and a series of strange 'lone wolf' attacks followed on three consecutive days, the perpetrators declaring “'God is Great' in Arabic. Three policemen were stabbed in Joué-lès-Tours, and vehicles were used to run over eleven pedestrians in Dijon and ten in Nantes."Rapoport David Why Has The Islamic State Changed its Strategy and Mounted the Paris-Brussels Attacks? Perspectives on Terrorism; Terrorism Research Initiative; University of Leiden 2016 10 2 http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/498/html 18 October 2017 18 June 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170618154116/http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/498/html usurped The Financial Times describes the 20 December 2014 Tours police station stabbing, this attack on 21 December, and the 22 December 2014 Nantes attack as "the first Isis-linked attacks" in France. In his 2017 book, Words Are Weapons: Inside ISIS’s Rhetoric of Terror, Philippe-Joseph Salazar, wrote that "the French government strenuously denied that (this and the 2014 Nantes attack) were terrorist attacks, but terrorist experts dissented, referring to them as examples of a 'low intensity permanent warfare.'"Salazar Philippe-Joseph Words Are Weapons: Inside ISIS's Rhetoric of Terror 2017 Yale University Press 978-0300231519 https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUQzDwAAQBAJ&q=2014+Dijon+car+attack&pg=PT142 16 October 2017 Citing this 2014 Dijon car attack, Mark Silinsky of the United States Army War College describes a view held by "some in the West... that political violence perpetrated by Muslims in the name of Islam is not and cannot be authentically Islamic... In this view, the perpetrators are fueled with a rage unconnected to any religion. Even when perpetrators roar “Allahu Akbar” or bellow praises for the Caliphate, these proclamations are dismissed as empty or misguided rhetoric."Silinsky Mark Jihad and the West: Black Flag over Babylon 2016 Indiana University Press 978-0253027207 153. In their 2017 article, Is there a Nexus Between Terrorist Involvement and Mental Health in the Age of the Islamic State?, Emily Corner and Paul Gil, describe this attack as example of the "tendency to try to dismiss the possibility of terrorism altogether" in instances where a "confirmed diagnosis" is available. Context In his 2017 book Migration, Terrorism, and the Future of a Divided Europe: A Continent Transformed, Christopher Deliso discusses this attack in the context of a series of "terrorist" attacks "carried out by immigrants (and new migrants)" using "very basic but deadly weapons" in Western countries, noting that this particular attack occurred after ISIS released a video calling on Muslims in France to run non-Muslims over "with your cars."Deliso Christopher Migration, Terrorism, and the Future of a Divided Europe: A Continent Transformed May 2017 ABC-CLIO 978-1440855252 75 https://books.google.com/books?id=psu-DgAAQBAJ&q=terroist%22%20attacks%20%22carried%20out%20by%20immigrants%20(and%20new%20migrants)%22%20using%20%22very%20basic%20but%20deadly%20weapons The attack has been described as one of a series of terror attacks on French soil,A timeline of recent mass attacks in France http://www.dw.com/en/a-timeline-of-recent-mass-attacks-in-france/a-19401849 16 February 2017 Deutsche Welle 15 July 2016Michaels Jim Nice attack part of emerging DIY-style terrorism trend https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/07/15/nice-attack-part-emerging-diy-style-terrorism-trend/87124514/ 16 February 2017 USA Today 15 July 2016IS Urged Vehicle-Ramming Attacks In 2014 http://news.sky.com/story/is-urged-vehicle-ramming-attacks-in-2014-10502688 16 February 2017 Sky News 15 July 2016Terror Attack by Truck Scenario Long Feared by Law Enforcement http://ktla.com/2016/07/14/terror-attack-by-truck-scenario-long-feared-by-law-enforcement-in-california/ 16 February 2017 CNN wire KTLA 15 July 2016Jamieson Alastair News Berlin Truck Attack Dec 20 2016, 9:27 am ET Truck Attacks: Low-Tech, Soft Target Terrorism Is Growing Threat http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/berlin-truck-attack/truck-attacks-low-tech-soft-target-terrorism-growing-threat-n609996 16 February 2017 NBC News 20 December 2016 as a contemporary example of vehicle ramming as a terrorism tactic,Vehicles becoming weapon of choice for extremists: A timeline of recent attacks http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/vehicle-attacks-timeline-1.4037243 16 October 2017 CBC News 22 March 2017Peritz Avi Vehicle Attacks Like Berlin's Are Nothing New, And Are Likely To Continue https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/12/21/506354954/vehicle-attacks-like-berlins-are-nothing-new-and-are-likely-to-continue 16 October 2017 National Public Radio 21 December 2016Motorised weapons How terrorists have used vehicles DailyTelegraph 8 April 2017 1885127881Callimachi Rukmini Potent tools of death, on roads worldwide: A mainstay of commerce becomes a weapon in the attack in France https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/16/world/europe/truck-attack-nice-france.html 16 October 2017 The New York Times 18 July 2016Bergen Peter Truck attacks -- a frightening tool of terror, with a history http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/14/opinions/truck-attacks-tactic-analysis-bergen/index.html 17 October 2017 CNN 15 July 2016 and as one of the many ISIS-inspired lone wolf terrorist attacks worldwide.Yourish Karen Where ISIS Has Directed and Inspired Attacks Around the World https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/17/world/middleeast/map-isis-attacks-around-the-world.html 16 October 2017 The New York Times 22 March 2016Coughlin Tom Chilling Isis video on how to turn cars into 'mowing machines' The Times (of London) 16 July 2016 1804497561 Impact In what The New York Times described as an effort "to reassure a jittery nation" government deployed 300 troops onto French streets "to guard against copycat attacks inspired by" the 20 December 2014 Tours police station stabbing, this attack on 21 December, and the 22 December 2014 Nantes attack on the city's Christmas market in which ten people were injured and one was killed.France to deploy soldiers after spate of attacks https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30586798 26 December 2014 BBC News 23 December 2014France Charles France orders troops on streets to halt lone-wolf terror attacks Times (London) 24 December 2014 1639888933France steps up patrols after spate of lone-wolf attacks https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-crash-valls/france-steps-up-patrols-after-spate-of-lone-wolf-attacks-idUSKBN0K114I20141223 16 October 2017 Reuters 23 December 2014Willsher Kim France plans to beef up security after series of attacks Los Angeles Times 24 December 2014 1639832844 According to Public Radio International, these three attacks "prompted the French government to step up security at police and fire stations across the country."Leveille David France endures deadly attacks, but can't decide if they're terrorism https://theworld.org/stories/2014/12/22/french-debating-whether-two-deadly-incidents-are-acts-terror-or-not 16 October 2017 Public Radio International 22 December 2014 According to Le Monde, following the series of three attacks police were ordered keep their weapons constantly within reach, even when inside their stations, and to wear their protective vests. In addition to these immediate responses by the French government, according to CNN security analyst Peter Bergen writing in 2016, this attack was one of a number of Vehicle-ramming attacks that forced police in a number of countries to reconsider methods of protecting crowded public spaces. According to The Times, this series of three attacks (Dijon, Nantes, Tours) caused Whitehall to move protective measures against "lone volatile extremist(s)" intent on committing vehicle ramming attacks "to the top of the agenda," with a list of recommended measures including bollards, building design, and standards to insure that concrete sets properly.Evans Michael Britain on alert over hit-and-run terrorists The Times 24 December 2014 1639886784 Manuel Valls, the Prime Minister of France, expressed his "solidarity" with the victims of the attack via Twitter. References 30em Law France October 2017 Category:Terrorist incidents in France in 2014 Category:2014 road incidents in Europe Category:Terrorist incidents involving vehicular attacks in Europe Category:Crime in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Category:Islamic terrorism in France Category:December 2014 crimes in Europe Category:December 2014 in France Category:History of Dijon Category:Vehicle-ramming attacks in France Category:2010s road incidents in France Category:2010s vehicle-ramming attacks Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in 2014