France expresses gratitude for India's support amid allegations on Emmanuel Macron of pursuing anti-Islam agenda

India has strongly condemned the personal attacks and abuses of French President Emmanuel Macron. The Foreign Ministry, in a statement, criticized the use of abuses by the President of Turkey and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan against the President of France.

The statement said that personal attacks on Macros and the use of abusive words could not be tolerated. It is against the dignity of international dialogue. Meanwhile, French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenan has expressed his gratitude to India for showing solidarity with President Emmanuel Macron. The French ambassador said in a tweet that thanks to India. France and India can always count on each other in the fight against terrorism.

Thank you @MEAIndia. France and India can always count on each other in the fight against terrorism.https://t.co/oXZ0XpKNSZ pic.twitter.com/iGylUYxUB6

— Emmanuel Lenain (@FranceinIndia) October 28, 2020

Meanwhile, there has been an uproar between the French satirical magazine Sharley Abdo and Turkish President Rajab Tayyab Erdogan. The magazine published a cartoon of Erdogan on its cover page on Wednesday, in which the Turkish President is shown to be drinking alcohol in an idle state. He is seen behaving indecently with a burqa-striped woman.

Reacting to this magazine's cartoon, Erdogan said that he does not complain that his cartoon was made. Still, Muslim society cannot tolerate derogatory remarks on Prophet Hazrat Mohammed.

This whole uproar started when a teacher was strangled to death in the area of ​​Paris on 16 October. After this, the French President condemned it in strong terms, terming it as Islamic terrorism. After this, many Islamic countries have become vocal against the French President.

On Thursday, an attacker beheaded a woman with a knife who also killed two other people at a church in the French city of Nice. The city's mayor is described as a terrorism.

Mayor Christian Estrosi said Tweeted saying that the knife attack had happened in or near the city's Notre Dame church and that police had detained the attacker.

Je suis sur place avec la @PoliceNat06 et la @pmdenice qui a interpellé l’auteur de l’attaque. Je confirme que tout laisse supposer à un attentat terroriste au sein de la basilique Notre-Dame de #Nice06. pic.twitter.com/VmpDqRwzB1

— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) October 29, 2020

Police said three people were confirmed to have died in the attack, and several were injured.

A police source said a woman was decapitated. French politician Marine Le Pen also spoke of a decapitation having occurred in the attack.

The French anti-terrorism prosecutor's department said it had been asked to investigate the attack.

Reuters journalists at the scene said police armed with automatic weapons had put up a security cordon around the church on Nice's Jean Medecin Avenue, the city's main shopping thoroughfare. Ambulances and fire service vehicles were also at the scene.

The attack comes while France is still reeling from the beheading earlier this month of French middle school teacher Samuel Paty in Paris by a Chechen origin man.

The attacker had said he wanted to punish Paty for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a civics lesson.

It was not immediately clear what the motive was for the Nice attack or any connection to the cartoons, which Muslims consider blasphemous.

Since Paty's killing, French officials - backed by many ordinary citizens - have re-asserted the right to display the cartoons. The images have been widely displayed at marches in solidarity with the killed teacher.

That has prompted an outpouring of anger in parts of the Muslim world, with some governments accusing French leader Emmanuel Macron of pursuing an anti-Islam agenda.