The manager of a refugee center in the French city of Pau has died of his injuries, after allegedly being stabbed multiple times by a Sudanese asylum seeker, police said on Friday.
The suspect, a 38-year-old man from Sudan, was arrested following the attack. He was reportedly known to the authorities for acts of violence and has already been in prison, according to French media.
The knife attack took place at around 11am local time in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The suspect’s motives for the attack remain unknown, although police sources told local media he had just been refused refugee status by OFPRA, the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons. The public broadcaster France Télévisions reported that the man had been in France since 2015.
The victim, the 46-year-old refugee center manager, died at the scene.
“It’s a terrible tragedy,” said Pau Mayor François Bayrou. He described the attack as “all the more appalling as the victim has been involved all his professional life in the defense of migrants and those who applied for asylum.”
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted his condolences to the family of the victim, and said he would be visiting Pau on Friday to meet the center staff and local elected officials.
The suspect remains in custody, and Pau prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the fatal attack.
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