The African national suspected of attacking three people with a knife and hammer in the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris on Saturday has been revealed to have published anti-French videos despite police claiming that the attack was likely the result of mental illness.
A 32-year-old Malian, officially only identified as ‘Kassogue S.’, who left three injured including one critically during an attack in Paris’ second-busiest train station on Saturday, reportedly had a history of anti-French comments and “a profile of pan-Africanism”.
Police have claimed that the man suffers from mental disorders and that terrorism was not likely the motivation for the attack. However, videos published on his TikTok account, authenticated by the Le Parisien newspaper, saw the African national proclaim: “I’m not French, I don’t dream of being French, I don’t like France, I hate all French people.”
Kassogue, who entered France legally with Italian residence papers, added: “It is my own reason to ignore France because the French who deprived me of my right to live, it is the French who took away my dignity. It was the French who stole… it was the French who took my grandparents hostage for slavery. It was the French who forced my grandparents to do forced labour to be able to settle their accounts, their economy.”
In another video, he said: “You entered the African continent illegally for resources, mistreated people, raped women, murdered small children, removed children’s organs, stole our financial material goods… You are more cursed than Satan. Even Satan can’t teach you a lesson.”
The Malian man also appeared to suggest he was planning violence, saying: “Sometimes you have to attack, you shouldn’t always wait for the principle of reciprocity. Sometimes you have to attack to be able to dominate your own enemy, to be able to scare your enemy, to threaten your enemy. This is what we call the principle of domination”
While police have claimed that there is “no sign of religiosity” as a motivating factor of the train station attack, Kassogue reportedly previously invoked Islam, saying according to Le Parisien: “RIP in three months, may Allah welcome me to his paradise”.
Despite this, Paris police were quick to declare that mental illness was the likely culprit for the attack, with police telling Le Figaro that Kassogue displayed “a profile that is half-homeless, half-psychological disorders” and that he “was found in possession of medication for psychiatric pathologies”.
While investigations continue, the police have said that early indications do not “suggest that this is a terrorist act”. They added that the suspect was “unknown to the police services in France and Italy”.
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