Browse content similar to 20/04/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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motive unclear at the moment as are the sequence of events confusing. | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Coverage of this unfolding story continues here on BBC News. We have | :00:00. | :00:11. | |
a developing story in Paris where there has been a shooting on the | :00:12. | :00:12. | |
Champs Elysees. This is from a French news agency | :00:13. | :00:21. | |
stating that one police officer has been killed and over the wounded by | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
the shooting in the Champs-Elysees, and we are told by the French | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
interior ministry that an attacker has been killed. Next I can show you | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
live pictures coming into the BBC newsroom. You get an idea of the | :00:36. | :00:45. | |
operation underway in the city. Let's bring in Christian Fraser from | :00:46. | :00:54. | |
the BBC who is in Paris. What have you heard? Funnily enough Ros I | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
started broadcasting with the one hour ago, I saw the police and I | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
knew something was wrong, I did not know where it was but I know there | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
was a commotion. We are broadcasting here, that is Etoile behind us, the | :01:11. | :01:18. | |
traffic is being redirected away from the Champs-Elysees, it's being | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
directed towards Concord and the street is empty, they have pulled | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
back the cordon towards Etoile and the helicopter is basically making a | :01:31. | :01:32. | |
grand circle around the Champs-Elysees. It is going back | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
down towards us. Police cars are still moving around, just after we | :01:40. | :01:48. | |
had spoken to you clearly the message had gone out on the radio | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
that one officer had been shot and they were coming from all | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
directions. It was bedlam. There was one unmarked police car that came | :01:57. | :02:09. | |
tearing up the Grande Armee desperate to get to the | :02:10. | :02:11. | |
Champs-Elysees because they did not know what had happened. The street | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
was full of people as it is on beautiful nights like this, people | :02:18. | :02:26. | |
walking up and down a very busy street, maybe we passed some of the | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
people who came under attack, there is a visible presence of armed | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
police on the Champs-Elysees as always. Before we keep talking, | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
Christian, let me bring in further developments. The Reuters news | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
agency say that three police sources say the shooting in Paris could have | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
been an attempt at an armed robbery. Writers have also put out a tweet | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
from a police source saying it is probably a terrorist attack. Which | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
highlights the fact that we don't know who's responsible, we don't | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
know what has happened yet. And as ever with these situations you have | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
to be careful about what conclusions jump to. The city is on a high state | :03:08. | :03:14. | |
of alert. We are three days from a general election and there are | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
plenty of people in France who would like to disrupt it, so serious is it | :03:18. | :03:25. | |
that the police are bringing in private security guards to help man | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
some polling stations. We are still in a state of emergency in France, | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
it has been extended and they will be on the highest state of alert | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
particularly after what has gone on. You are right to put caution on it. | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
It is a busy street, lots of jewellers shops on that street, it | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
could easily have been an armed robbery as well as it could have | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
been a terror attack. Stay with us peace. We will highlight where the | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
attack took place. If we go in closely you can see the | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
Champs-Elysees is marked. I can see one eyewitnesses quoted as saying | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
that a man got out of a car and began shooting with a Kalashnikov. | :04:10. | :04:12. | |
The BBC can't confirm that at the moment. Let's bring up the | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
newswires, which are coming through. Apparently one shot was fired as the | :04:18. | :04:32. | |
car stopped at a red light. All the latest news reports coming in. Let's | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
listen to a police warning to people on the Champs-Elysees. You have to | :04:37. | :04:45. | |
stay back. Please stay back. Ladies and gentlemen, stay back, please. I | :04:46. | :04:55. | |
mean, look exactly where this attack will have taken place. This is the | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous roads, not just in France, in | :05:00. | :05:06. | |
the world. We are still getting more details on precisely where the | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
attack happened. Let's speak to James Reynolds who is monitoring | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
this story from the BBC newsroom in Paris. What information do you have, | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
James? We are keeping an eye on the French channels. They suggest | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
something similar to what you have said, there was a car, in which | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
there was an attacker, these initial reports say he got out and fired | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
towards the police. There are other questions to be answered, were the | :05:35. | :05:37. | |
others in the car, what's happened to that car, with the police | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
targeted, remember there are lots of police on the Champs-Elysees. Our | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
colleague Christian Fraser has brought these pictures. I was on a | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
side street possibly moments after the shooting happened, my colleagues | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
and I were simply walking towards the Champs-Elysees, we saw a small | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
group of people running towards us, we from the Champs-Elysees, looking | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
panicked, one woman said that had been a man with a gun, we could not | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
get much more information from her. And then we saw the police taking | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
control of the small side road from the Champs-Elysees ordering people | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
to stay inside. This evening all the main residential candidates, all 11 | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
of them are taking part in a big television event. If that's | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
continuing? Have they commented on this? They have been commenting on | :06:27. | :06:34. | |
Twitter. I haven't followed the progress of the debate, I did manage | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
to watch the first three or four segments including one where Marine | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
Le Pen talked about the issue of what she called terrorism. Clearly | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
this news has dominated and the candidates have wanted to express | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
themselves and get their points of view out on Twitter. If you are just | :06:52. | :07:01. | |
tuning in, that has been a shooting on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. We | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
don't know the circumstances, we don't know the motivation. We have | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
had contradictory claims on that. We are best not going down the road of | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
speculation. What we do know is that it has happened on the | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
Champs-Elysees. Confirmation from the French interior ministry, they | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
say that police officers were deliberately targeted. Let me bring | :07:30. | :07:41. | |
up another piece of information, police sources say that two | :07:42. | :07:44. | |
attackers were involved and one was killed. I was just speaking to my | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
colleague about that important TV debate in France, we have heard that | :07:50. | :07:59. | |
has been suspended. Each presidential candidate was going to | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
be quizzed in front of a sizeable audience across the country but that | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
will not be continuing as normal because of what is happening in | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
Paris. The police, as often happens in these emergency situations, are | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
using social media to communicate, one tweet recommends that you avoid | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
the area of the Champs-Elysees and as James and Christian have | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
explained they had to move, because of the police coming in again, | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
police intervention under Way, avoid the sector, follow the instructions | :08:36. | :08:37. | |
of the police forces. Let's speak to Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, a | :08:38. | :08:53. | |
journalist who often joins us here. You don't live far away, what have | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
you heard? I heard it on my computer before I looked outside but I was | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
wondering why helicopters were in the sky because they are flying over | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
Paris and normally that's forbidden. I live at the corner of two streets, | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
one block off the Champs-Elysees, and I could see police cars in my | :09:14. | :09:20. | |
street, and it was very obvious that it was to get on the street to go to | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
the Champs-Elysees, so the whole thing was being cordoned off. And | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
then of course I got the news by television and Twitter. And they | :09:31. | :09:39. | |
talked about and attack, announced by the interior minister who said | :09:40. | :09:42. | |
that there had been a deliberate attack against a French police | :09:43. | :09:45. | |
officer and that the assailants were both dead. What I did not know, and | :09:46. | :09:52. | |
had only recently, is that one of the policeman is also dead. This | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
happened in a segment of the Champs-Elysees we have many | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
shoppers, many tourists, many restaurants, and that would have | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
been a place where at any time of the evening, especially the early | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
evening, you would have close to 100,000 people between the top on | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
the bottom of the street so potentially a place where you could | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
have a disaster. I was going to ask you, even at this time of the | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
evening it would be a busy place. Hugely busy. It's the time when it | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
is most busy in the day. Early evening, people are about to go and | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
see movies at the second show or they are just coming out of movies | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
and there are lots of restaurants and many shops and open in the | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
evening. That would be more of an incentive. If you think of something | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
that would be a combination of Leicester Square and Oxford Street | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
in London, that is what it is. Anne-Elisabeth, can you give us an | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
idea of the scale of the operation that is underway at the moment? The | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
incident itself didn't involve many people but now you've got police and | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
Stanley Avenue, police in the side street and helicopters overhead. -- | :11:07. | :11:15. | |
you've got police along the Avenue. Every president, every mayor in | :11:16. | :11:22. | |
Paris is aware that everyone in world knows about this Avenue so it | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
is the place that is the most protected, it has Brazilians and | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
people from outside the city and tourists, and weekends you have one | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
third of a million people there every day. And you have the Ely is a | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
palace which is just behind a row of trees just up the bottom of the | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
Avenue, so that's many reasons for the place to be protected. | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
Anne-Elisabeth, thank you very much, for the moment. We appreciate your | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
help in covering this story. A couple of other things to share with | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
you. A French Interior Ministry spokesperson said that the motives | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
for the shooting are unknown. Bear in mind that message from the French | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
interior ministry when I show you this wire that has come in from | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
Reuters, President Trump has offered his condolences after the killing of | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
a police officer, saying it looks like another terrorist act. Let's | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
bring in Christian Fraser of the BBC in the Champs-Elysees. Just to | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
reiterate, we don't know how to describe this at the moment, do we? | :12:26. | :12:34. | |
No, we don't. I did see mobile phone footage from the Champs-Elysees, | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
somebody running this we showed me and he showed me shots on the mobile | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
phone because he had recorded them, I could not hear the sound because | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
of the traffic that people were running in all directions, and as | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
Anne-Elisabeth has just described, the police were on the scene very | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
quickly. I can see just at the top of the Champs-Elysees armed police | :12:59. | :13:01. | |
on both sides of the road. Hotels are just down that side of the | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
Champs-Elysees is presumably people are being kept indoors. They are | :13:07. | :13:14. | |
still making sure that there is no one out there. We see the helicopter | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
going round the Champs-Elysees, just moments ago they turned the | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
floodlight on the helicopter and they were pointing it down onto an | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
area to the right-hand side of the Champs around the area of the George | :13:26. | :13:36. | |
V Metro station. Police down the side streets, not all the side | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
streets but keeping a wary eye on what is going on in this part of | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
town. It is much quieter than it would normally be. It would be quite | :13:44. | :13:53. | |
busy in this area, eight o'clock local time, and now you can only see | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
a smattering of traffic which is normally very busy at this time is | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
right. Please stay with us. Some other elements, CBS News has quoted | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
President Trump saying this looks like another terrorist attack but | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
we've had no confirmation from the authorities that it is. | :14:14. | :14:24. | |
A counterterrorism office has opened an investigation but it is an | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
investigation and no more, this is particularly relevant to those of | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
you watching on the BBC News Channel, the British Embassy is in | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
contact with local authorities and is seeking further information | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
following the reports of this shooting incident in Paris. | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
Christian, to come back to you, can you give us an idea for the viewers | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
who are not watching about an hour ago of the sudden influx of | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
emergency vehicles? It was very quick. We work broadcasting at about | :14:57. | :15:06. | |
ten to eight. Suddenly from all directions police cars were coming | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
towards us, unmarked police cars as well. The most dramatic moment at | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
the foot of where we are broadcasting is that there's a sort | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
of traffic light and a pedestrian crossing and a pedestrian almost got | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
hit by a policeman who was driving as quickly as he could to get to the | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
scene. Clearly a message had gone out on the radio that they needed to | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
respond, we have seen the helicopter overhead for about the past hour, | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
and very quickly as well. And also at the underpass. It is an area that | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
people use to get to the other side of the Champs-Elysees. The policeman | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
I spoke to, I said, what is going on and he didn't want to talk at all, | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
you was very jumpy so obviously he knew something serious had happened | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
to one of his colleagues. We were talking about terrorism as we would | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
do in the context of like this. We were whether former Europe minister | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
tonight. He came to do an interview with us for 100 Days. I knew his | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
background, he was on the intelligence committee that wrote | :16:19. | :16:20. | |
the intelligence legislation and I asked if he thought it might affect | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
things this weekend. He said it certainly in the minds of some | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
voters the terror threat is there and it might encourage some people | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
to vote from Marine Le Pen but in the context of our question I am | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
always intrigued about how severe the terror threat is. He said that | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
from what he had seen there was something like 15,000 people in | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
France that the security services need to watch. Not saying that they | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
all severe threats but 15,000 people at any one time that have to be | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
watched. And he said, whatever happens the other side of this | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
election we need to step up our security and resources we have of | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
the intelligence agencies so that they can keep track of these people. | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
Christian, thank you, we will come back to you within the hour on | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
Outside Source. If you are just joining us, there has been a | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
shooting on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, one police officer has been | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
killed, we don't know the motivation behind this incident. The reaction | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
from Marine Le Pen, leader of the National front in France, one of the | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
four main candidates to be the next president, she says in motion and | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
solidarity for our security forces, again being targeted. In the most | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
famous road in Paris, the Champs-Elysees, there is the Arc de | :17:44. | :17:46. | |
Triomphe which we saw just behind Christian as he was talking to us, | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
it runs away from that. The newswires are giving updates all the | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
time on this story. APR says one police officer has been killed and | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
another injured, and one attacker has been shot dead, according to the | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
police. This is really important. The French interior minister says it | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
is too early to say what the motive is for this attack. We are busy | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
working on this story in the BBC newsroom in London, James Reynolds | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
is in Paris, what else can you tell us, James? To recap what you have | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
just said, Ros. Metro stations along the Champs-Elysees have been closed, | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
entirely understandable, given the police presence on the | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
Champs-Elysees. Like Christian Fraser we have heard the police | :18:41. | :18:43. | |
helicopters overhead. We know that the police are in control of the | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
roads next to the Champs-Elysees and to reiterate what Christian said, | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
this still feels like a live operation. They need to identify who | :18:52. | :18:58. | |
the attacker was. Was he known to the police, was involved in other | :18:59. | :19:09. | |
activities? Were there any accomplices, this activity will have | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
to go quickly before they can reassure people that this live | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
operation is over. Would it have been normal for police officers to | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
be on the Champs-Elysees on a regular evening? On some regular | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
evenings, yes, given the context of the last few years, if you go down | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
the Champs-Elysees at any point in the last few years you might well | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
have seen police officers and possibly soldiers as well, this | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
morning I saw police officers blocking one particular pathway down | :19:39. | :19:46. | |
from the Arc de Triomphe. I have seen soldiers in camouflage on one | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
side St today. You see them so often that you barely notice them any | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
more. As I was out early in the evening and seen people running | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
away, already in the distance I saw what looked like two sirens, just | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
reiterating what Christian Fraser said, although he was in a different | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
location, the police were on the scene quickly because they had been | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
deployed along the Champs-Elysees in case anything like this happened. | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
James, I want to bring up one newswire that has come into the BBC | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
Newsline. Reuters is quoting a police source saying the gunman | :20:25. | :20:27. | |
killed in the shooting was known to the security services. We have no | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
more information on that but it is interesting, as the different | :20:34. | :20:34. | |
politicians respond to this even before we know what has happened, it | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
is becoming inevitably politicised. It is in the first few minutes when | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
we were still not sure what was happening. | :20:48. | :20:58. | |
As far as we can say, the politicians believe this was a | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
terrorist attack. We need to be cautious and work out what the | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
motivation is. I think it might be significant, especially of the | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
police knew who this person was. The police have had a lot of people in | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
France under surveillance for different reasons. They did know who | :21:16. | :21:22. | |
this person was they might have been able to identify the motivations and | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
importantly for French people, whether that person was connected to | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
a wider network of people. I just want to show a couple of stills that | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
have come into the BBC newsroom. This gives an idea of the operation | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
taking place on the Champs-Elysees. We cannot emphasise this enough. It | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
is too early to identify a motive in the Paris attack, although if we go | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
back to the newswires, Donald Trump has been offering his condolences, | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
after the killing of a police officer, saying that it looks like | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
another terrorist attack. We have a clip of President Trump responding | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
to this which I can play you now. Our condolences from this country to | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
the people of France, again it has happened, I saw it as I was walking | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
in. It is a terrible thing, a very very terrible thing going on in the | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
world today but it looks like another terrorist attack and what | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
can you say? It just never ends. We have to be strong and we have to be | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
vigilant and I have been saying and for a long time. Back to James | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
Reynolds in Paris. Just for people joining us are we certain that one | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
police officer has lost their life? Off that is what the authorities say | :22:44. | :22:54. | |
at this stage. In terms of what the authorities are saying, this is what | :22:55. | :22:56. | |
they are broadcasting to the media, to the people in France. The picture | :22:57. | :23:06. | |
that is being painted by the French interior ministry spokesperson is | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
that there was a shooting near the Champs-Elysees, targeting lease | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
officers, that needs to be confirmed, one officer was killed, | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
we understand from broad reports broadcast on French TV that the | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
attacker was killed. Recent reports suggest that the attacker was known | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
at the police. That could be very significant in helping police | :23:34. | :23:36. | |
analyse the motivation and the network, if any, of the attacker. | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
James, for the moment, thank you. We will come back to you in the next | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
few minutes on Outside Source. That has been political reaction to what | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
has happened in Paris, the Socialist candidate says, my thoughts are with | :23:50. | :24:01. | |
the family of the policeman, Benoit Hamon using the word terrorism. | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
Marine Le Pen saying, emotion and solidarity for our security forces | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
again targeted. Back to Christian Fraser. Some newswires say there | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
have been further gunshots. What more can you tell us? More shots | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
have been fired near the Champs-Elysees, see news reports, | :24:24. | :24:25. | |
although we have not heard them here. Francois Hollande has been in | :24:26. | :24:39. | |
the presidential headquarters, wanting to call his senior ministers | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
to talk about what has happened. The French newspaper Anne-Elisabeth | :24:44. | :24:50. | |
Moutet says the attacker stopped near the Champs-Elysees, got out, | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
shot at the police officers and was shot as he ran away. As James said | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
we still get the sense, watching the helicopter and the activity around | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
the area at the moment that there still is a live police operation | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
under way. I am not sure that they are certain that there isn't someone | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
else they are looking for. If those reports are true, and do bear in | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
mind that people are pretty jumpy up the moment, so any loud noises | :25:15. | :25:17. | |
people might well jump to conclusions about, but according to | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
Reuters there have been other shots fired near the Champs-Elysees. And | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
sifting through the information coming in. It's difficult to work | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
out if we are talking about one person acting alone or two or three | :25:33. | :25:38. | |
people. What have you heard? Only what you are hearing at the moment, | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
which is that one police officer may have lost his life and another may | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
have been injured. One of the attackers may have been killed. Let | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
me show you something that we witnessed when we were standing here | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
broadcasting with you a little earlier. Can you see this on the | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
computer? This was a bus parked on the other side of Etoile. It was | :26:05. | :26:12. | |
going around the roundabout and suddenly the police cars surrounded | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
the bus and stopped it. I don't know what they thought was on it, there | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
were plenty of buses around but this one they had a particular focus on. | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
They pulled everyone who was on the bus off. They had their body armour | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
on, they were armed police, heavily armed police surrounding it, and it | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
was therefore probably about half an hour to one hour before the bus | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
moved off. Does that tell us that they were looking for someone else? | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
I don't know because they had shot the attacker on the Champs-Elysees | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
according to the reports we've heard but if they stopped this bus is | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
possible they thought that someone else was on the run and maybe that | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
person had got onto a bus at the top of the Champs-Elysees and was trying | :27:00. | :27:04. | |
to get away from the scene, it was interesting that they picked on that | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
particular bus. Thank you, Christian. There has been a shooting | :27:09. | :27:11. | |
on the Champs-Elysees in the centre of Paris. These are live pictures. | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
The Reuters news agency says shots have been fired at a new location | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
near the Champs-Elysees. That's according to a police source. The | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
police have said that one police officer has lost their life and | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
another has been injured. The French interior ministry has emphasised | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
explicitly that they do not know the motivation behind what happened on | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
the Champs-Elysees. Just to highlight to those of you watching, | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
many of you will know this very famous avenue, right in the centre | :27:44. | :27:51. | |
of Paris with the Arc de Triomphe at one end of it. Let's speak to | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
Christian Fraser again. We talked about the political context of this, | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
the other context is the fact that Paris has experienced many traumas | :28:04. | :28:06. | |
involving attacks in the last 18 months. I think it has an | :28:07. | :28:13. | |
accumulative effect on the population in Paris especially on a | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
night like this. It was interesting as an observer to watch how people | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
reacted to what was going on. As soon as police started going in one | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
direction, we saw a group of youngsters who had come to look at | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
the eternal flame and they were told to clear Etoile as quickly as they | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
could and immediately they panicked. Maybe the rumour of gunshots had | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
gone around, but they started running everywhere and it was | :28:44. | :28:46. | |
difficult for the police to control them and keep everyone calm. | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
Everyone jumps to the same conclusion because they have bitter | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
experience of previous attacks. It is not only the Charlie Hebdo attack | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
and the Bataclan attack which were horrendous, but peppered through | :29:03. | :29:04. | |
those months there have been countless attacks on the police. And | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
according to the French media wires that I can see, they claimed the | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
police were specifically targeted in this attack. We've seen policemen | :29:15. | :29:28. | |
before stabbed from behind, in La Defense, while protecting the | :29:29. | :29:31. | |
public, they are conscious that they are targets for someone who might | :29:32. | :29:34. | |
come up behind them and they don't expect it to try to hurt one of them | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
and kill one of them. It sounds as if it might have been the case | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
tonight. Christian, thank you. For those viewers just joining us, let's | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
remind ourselves of what is happening. There's been a shooting | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
in the Champs-Elysees in the centre of Paris, one police officer has | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
lost his or her life, the authorities say another has been | :29:59. | :30:00. | |
wounded. There are other elements to the story which we can bring you. | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
Some of which are confirmed, others not. This is the Reuters news agency | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
picking up on what Christian said. There are reports that shots had | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
been fired at a new location near the Champs-Elysees, according to one | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
police source speaking to Reuters. Know the political reaction as well. | :30:20. | :30:25. | |
Remember it is round one of the French presidential election on | :30:26. | :30:26. | |
Sunday. His use of the word terrorism is | :30:27. | :30:59. | |
significant because over the last hour, the French Interior Ministry | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
has emphasised we do not know the nature of this attack. I want to | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
bring up a couple of other newswires coming into the BBC newsroom. | :31:08. | :31:16. | |
Reuters quoting a police source, say a second policeman has died from | :31:17. | :31:20. | |
wounds of the Paris shootings. We knew that one person had lost their | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
life. According to Reuters, we do not have this confirmed, but they | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
had been correct on all the other elements of the story so far, | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
reporting a second policeman has lost their life. The nearby stations | :31:34. | :31:40. | |
to the Paris Metro had been closed and we can bring in the BBC's | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
Christian Fraser again. In terms of what is happening in and around... | :31:46. | :31:52. | |
Hi, Christian. I am just watching the helicopter. Apart from the | :31:53. | :32:00. | |
Champs-Elysees itself, are people able to move around within the area | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
quite easily? Yes, but there are not a lot of people. A public | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
announcement has gone out, urging people to stay away from the | :32:11. | :32:16. | |
Champs-Elysees. That seems to have been led by people in this area. | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
There are very few people on the pavements at the moment. The people | :32:22. | :32:28. | |
are being directed from other areas, directed away from the | :32:29. | :32:33. | |
Champs-Elysees. I can still see, down the Champs-Elysees, there are | :32:34. | :32:37. | |
armed police in prominent positions up and down the Champs-Elysees, near | :32:38. | :32:40. | |
some of the restaurants and hotels. What I do not know is whether people | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
have been allowed to leave restaurants or whether they had been | :32:45. | :32:47. | |
kept in place until they are absolutely sure there is no one | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
still out there. But still a lot of police activity going on. You can | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
probably see some of the flashing blue lights. They moved from the | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
underpass, they have left the scene at the moment, maybe they had been | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
moved forward onto the Champs-Elysees, but generally it is | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
reasonably quiet and secure now. The helicopter appears to have moved to | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
a different part of the city, it is not circulating around the | :33:18. | :33:20. | |
Champs-Elysees for the moment. All the while we are talking, more | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
information is coming in. Let's bring more of that for you. | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
According to a police source talking to Reuters, police are searching the | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
home of the person who carried out the attack on the Champs-Elysees. We | :33:34. | :33:41. | |
have also seen wire copy coming in that the authorities are saying this | :33:42. | :33:45. | |
person was known the authorities. This is also relevant, this from | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
Reuters will stop the counterterrorism office open an | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
investigation into the shooting, one of the gunmen was killed in the | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
attack was known to the security forces. That phrase, one of the | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
gunmen, is interesting because there is a huge amount of uncertainty | :34:03. | :34:05. | |
around whether this attack was carried out by one person or more. | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
Some reports have said one, other have said more. They cannot be | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
certain at all at the moment. If you are just joining us, many of you | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
watching will have been to Paris, and you will certainly have been to | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
the Champs-Elysees. We have the Arc de Triomphe and the road comes away | :34:24. | :34:30. | |
from that to the east. It is one of the most famous roads and do world. | :34:31. | :34:37. | |
One journalist who lived closest to the Champs-Elysees, they said even | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
in the evening this would've been incredibly busy. Let's update you on | :34:42. | :34:45. | |
a couple of other elements to the story. We have heard Francois Fillon | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
paying tribute to the security forces. As we were discussing, even | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
though we do not know the very nature of this attack, already it is | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
becoming politicised the different candidates for the presidency | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
offering their condolences and, in some cases, their thoughts about | :35:06. | :35:12. | |
what has happened. Let's bring in a security expert. Thank you for your | :35:13. | :35:18. | |
time. With a story and situation unfolding like this, what will be | :35:19. | :35:21. | |
the priorities of the security forces on the Champs-Elysees? One of | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
the key issues will be to try to control information that will be | :35:28. | :35:33. | |
circulating around, and it will be to try to gather as much evidence as | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
they possibly can, again in peace times when most of us will have some | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
kind of camera within our phones. They will try to get as much | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
evidence as they can, particularly as reports are led to believe. One | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
of the gunmen potentially is on the run. In terms of communication with | :35:52. | :35:59. | |
the concerned public, presumably that has to remain a priority, even | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
though the police may not know exactly what is happening? No, | :36:04. | :36:10. | |
absolutely. They're in mind what a cosmopolitan city Paris is, much | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
like London when we had the Westminster attack recently, there | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
will try to get the that not only to the local residents, but also all | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
foreign visitors. The Champs-Elysees is such a representative sight of | :36:25. | :36:33. | |
Paris, and this is the ideal target particularly by some terrorist | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
affiliated groups because it is the capital and internationally | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
recognised. Police will control this local area as much as possible, | :36:45. | :36:50. | |
particularly as there may be other strands to this. One cannot presume | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
there isn't these days. They will control people indoors and the local | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
areas and then ultimately making sure other people do not come into | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
this catchment area. Stay with us. Earlier, I mentioned that we had | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
potential reports of another shooting close to the | :37:14. | :37:16. | |
Champs-Elysees. Paris police have confirmed to the BBC that that | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
reporter for the gunfire was a force report. People were claiming there | :37:21. | :37:28. | |
were further gunshots. Since we have contacted the resume police who have | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
said that was a force report. Will, it highlights the amount of | :37:33. | :37:41. | |
disinformation and in misinformation the authorities are sifting through. | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
Absolutely. One only has to look at Twitter a look at the various | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
reports coming in from different sources. Even the BBC will resort to | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
Twitter to try to gather as much information as they can. News | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
agencies like yourself has a bigger job as the police do, sifting | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
through information, following up on reports, and it is not uncommon that | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
we will hear of simultaneous attacks or other reports of attacks within | :38:10. | :38:15. | |
proximity or possibly close by, and again this could be from a variety | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
of different elements, it could be from individuals who heard the | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
initial attacks, and particularly in a city where sound can travel | :38:26. | :38:29. | |
extensively, it can be leading to greater levels of concern. This is | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
why the authorities will need to come up with a formal statement | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
pretty quickly to again reassure the general public that they have | :38:39. | :38:41. | |
control of the situation. One further question, we all being told | :38:42. | :38:48. | |
this attack was known to the authorities. In those circumstances | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
presumably they are able to move much faster in investigating. | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
Absolutely. The French had been playing catch-up game since some of | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
the earlier attacks, particularly Charlie Hebdo, which was a wake-up | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
call for them. But because quite a few of the notable attacks in the | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
last year or so have come from a variety of different areas, the | :39:13. | :39:14. | |
concern right now is that ultimately, they need to have | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
immediate triggers of any particular names to ensure that if they do | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
recognise is a perpetrator's name, they can follow that lead very | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
quickly. We appreciate your time, thank you very much for joining us. | :39:30. | :39:36. | |
In the last few minutes, I have brought you there is political | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
reactions. The far left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon saying, my | :39:45. | :39:47. | |
thoughts to the police and their families. Jean-Luc Melenchon | :39:48. | :39:55. | |
describing this as a terrorist act while the authorities are saying | :39:56. | :40:02. | |
they did not know the motivation. Let me check again, the news wires | :40:03. | :40:09. | |
coming in here. President Armand is holding a crisis meeting with the | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
Prime Minister and interior Minister as you would expect with a situation | :40:15. | :40:17. | |
like this unfolding. Here is what one eyewitness had to say. We were | :40:18. | :40:29. | |
moving towards a car and then I heard two or three shots but I did | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
not realise they were shots to start with. Then there was panic all | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
around, everyone started running down the Champs-Elysees by instinct. | :40:38. | :40:40. | |
I did not stop to work out what was going on, I just ran. Police were | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
already in place, blocking the road with the trucks, I took shelter | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
behind them. I did not have time to do anything other than just run | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
away. The French Interior Ministry... It is saying they are | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
assessing the vehicle of the assailant with regards to the attack | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
on the Champs-Elysees. It can also show you some of the Stills coming | :41:05. | :41:11. | |
in of the police operation underway. Particularly because of what has | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
happened in Paris over the last couple of years, the response to | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
this incident has been considerable, as you would expect. Let's bring | :41:20. | :41:27. | |
back Ken James in Paris. Please bring us date with what you have | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
got. I want to repeat a report on the Reuters news agency, suggesting | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
police are carrying out a search at the attacker's home east of Paris. | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
In the last 30 or 40 minutes, we have brought you those reports, | :41:44. | :41:46. | |
suggesting they knew who the suspected attacker was. Those | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
reports have developed and suggest the police are carrying out a search | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
of the person's house. It is important because they will want to | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
work at exactly who he was, why he might have carried out this attack | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
and whether or not he was working with any others. In that last | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
question is critical, as the police try to work out if it is over or if | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
there are other people they need to go look for. We had this interesting | :42:14. | :42:16. | |
situation with the police are saying, we did not know what is | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
behind this attack, the already very high profile politicians are calling | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
it an act of terrorism. Yes, and you can almost imagine politicians | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
thinking there is no harm in condemning terrorism as soon as they | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
hear of an attack on the police, it does them no harm even if it turns | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
out the attack had other motives. Very early on after we had the | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
report, there was one initial report from the police suggesting it was a | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
terrorist attack. There are suggestions it might possibly be a | :42:51. | :42:54. | |
robbery. We have not seen anything further than that because at the | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
moment, there are reports that the man was known to the police only. | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
Let me bring you another few updates. The Prime Minister has | :43:05. | :43:07. | |
taken to Twitter to pay tribute to the policeman killed in the attack | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
tonight, falls to his family and solidarity with the injured | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
colleagues and relatives. To reiterate to you, we have heard from | :43:16. | :43:22. | |
Donald Trump as well, who was offered his condolences to the | :43:23. | :43:24. | |
people of France after the killing of the police officer in Paris, | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
saying it looks like another terrorist act. Donald Trump has been | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
meeting the leader of Italy. We were expecting to be covering the joint | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
press conference but that's not happened for obvious reasons, but | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
Donald Trump is offering his condolences to the people of France | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
because of a terrorist act let's bring in James again. We talked | :43:47. | :43:53. | |
earlier that the authorities had said one person had died, Voigt is | :43:54. | :43:57. | |
then carried a report saying a second police officer had died, are | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
we able to confirm that yet? I am reading something I have seen on | :44:02. | :44:08. | |
social media. Second police officer has succumbed to his wounds. Those | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
reports coming from various police federations, saying there is a | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
second police officer who has been killed. We have not yet heard that | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
from the government, the Interior Ministry, and as French people know | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
all too well, it is the Interior Ministry to whom they have to turn | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
the term for updates on nights or days like this. Tell us about the | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
Champs-Elysees. If anyone wants to drive up it, can the? They can. | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
Earlier today, when I was coming in from the airport, it was very | :44:42. | :44:45. | |
difficult to get down from the Arc de Triomphe. We had to use side | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
roads because the police had blocked off one Particular Rd heading down | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
from the Arc de Triomphe which caused a lot of traffic jams. It | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
would not have been easy to get down from one side to another but later | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
on, I saw traffic going in both directions and I did not notice... | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
It would been unheard of to have checkpoints on either side of the | :45:10. | :45:12. | |
Champs-Elysees. If there was an attacker who wanted to drive along | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
the Champs-Elysees and then find police officers on either side of | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
the road, that would've been doable. In terms of how many people carried | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
this attack out, one person was involved, do we have any indication | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
as to whether they acted alone or with help? We do not we will | :45:31. | :45:36. | |
remember what you were speaking to Christian about, when he was talking | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
about the police surrounding a bus. That gives you an indication of the | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
instinct the police will have on the minutes after an attack, where they | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
will not just think this person was alone, they will look anyone in the | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
area and try to identify the person and find out who his network of | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
people, supporters, may have been. We do not have any indication do at | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
this stage whether or not the attacker was driving with anyone | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
else or whether he was alone. James, for the moment, thank you very much | :46:07. | :46:13. | |
for your help again. I'm live in London, where a story has been | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
developing over the last 90 minutes or so. Let me reiterate where we | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
have got to. There has been a shooting on the Champs-Elysees in | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
Paris, the city's most famous street and arguably France's. One police | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
officer has lost his life. We did have a statement from a police union | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
and there is a separate police source saying a second police | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
officer has lost his life but we're not able to confirm that at the | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
moment. High-profile politicians and France have referred to this as an | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
act of terrorism, however the French interior minister is saying, we do | :46:53. | :46:55. | |
not know the motivation behind this attack. There is one person involved | :46:56. | :47:03. | |
that they have been reports of extra people being involved. However, | :47:04. | :47:06. | |
quite often in developing stories like this, you get reports of extra | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
people being involved and it does not prove to be the case, so we | :47:11. | :47:14. | |
cannot confirm if anyone was involved beyond that single | :47:15. | :47:22. | |
attacker. If we go in closer, we can see the Arctic Triomphe where we | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
were talking to Christian Fraser, and the attack took place in the | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
Champs-Elysees to the east. Throughout the hour, more | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
information has been coming through. We have plugged back into the BBC | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
newsroom to access all the latest information. All the stations nearby | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
to wear this attack is taken place have been closed. Police are also | :47:48. | :47:56. | |
warning people not to spread any misinformation that has not come | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
from a trusted source save the authorities. Also, the | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
counterterrorism officers have offered an investigation into the | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
shooting. You will notice this wire from Reuters talks about gunmen, | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
we're not sure whether it was a gunman or gunmen, but one person has | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
been killed. According to a police source, speaking to the authorities. | :48:22. | :48:28. | |
A couple of other things to mention here. Donald Trump has come out and | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
offered his condolences to France over what has happened, saying, it | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
looks like another terrorist attack. James has been helping us from the | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
newsroom of the BBC in Paris. Christian was just by the | :48:44. | :48:46. | |
Champs-Elysees. We spoke to him on Outside Source when it was not clear | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
when this story was developing, but we are clear now it has happened. Is | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
is still ongoing? Do we know if this is a live situation? There are a lot | :48:58. | :49:04. | |
of conflicting reports so I do not want to put information at the that | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
might not stand up but there are reports quoting police sources that | :49:11. | :49:12. | |
there is another attack of are looking for. I have just seen | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
footage sent to me by people who are in Paris of what looks to be the | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
immediate aftermath of the shooting, and you can see the police van in | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
the car that was pulled up right alongside it, and what you picture | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
in the image is a police man putting his gun down on the pavement as if | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
they just just killed the attacker had just literally come upon them. | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
We are also hearing from various news reports, unconfirmed, two | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
policeman had been killed but they are also saying the third one had | :49:49. | :49:52. | |
been injured. Maybe there were three is part of a small group. But it is | :49:53. | :50:01. | |
halfway down the Champs-Elysees in a very busy area of the street. We are | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
also hearing as you confirm the night that this attack was known to | :50:07. | :50:12. | |
the intelligence services. If they are known to them, then we are | :50:13. | :50:20. | |
starting to move toward someone to would've been known to the | :50:21. | :50:25. | |
anti-terrorist police, and it is a very strange thing to get out of a | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
car and start shooting at police officers if you will carry out an | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
armed robbery, said this might be why politicians are starting to step | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
over to this area that this might have been a specific attack aimed at | :50:39. | :50:47. | |
police officers. There are also reports focusing on the TV report, | :50:48. | :50:54. | |
they are saying that there was social media from the gunmen, saying | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
he wanted to attack police officers. All of that will be part of the | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
focus in the next 12 hours. But as James said, this will be an ongoing | :51:04. | :51:09. | |
police operation right up until the election now because, whether or not | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
there is one attack or two, that person would be known to other | :51:16. | :51:18. | |
people, that is why they are searching the property and they will | :51:19. | :51:21. | |
want to know who that person has been in contact with over the last | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
few days, and is the threat from the people but that person new? If it is | :51:26. | :51:32. | |
not focused on the other attacker that might have got away. It is | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
worth reiterating that the reason Christian is in Paris is to cover | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
the French election. It is the first round on Sunday, and Christian is | :51:45. | :51:48. | |
there, but as Christian just pointed out, the remainder of the campaign | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
is likely to be dominated by what is happening in Paris. A little while | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
ago, I was talking to James, we were both saying we have these | :51:58. | :52:00. | |
unconfirmed reports that second police officer had lost his life. We | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
have been cautious about that because even though news agencies | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
were putting out there, we were not able to confirm that. The reason we | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
were being cautious is because the French Interior Ministry | :52:15. | :52:17. | |
spokesperson said a second police officer is not dead, they are | :52:18. | :52:21. | |
telling us that two police officers are seriously wounded, and this | :52:22. | :52:25. | |
highlights the amount of information flying around on how you have to be | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
cautious about it. The French interior Ministry saying a second | :52:30. | :52:32. | |
police officer has not lost his life but that two police officers are | :52:33. | :52:39. | |
seriously wounded. One police officer has died. I also want to | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
show you this. A spokesperson saying they cannot exclude that there were | :52:45. | :52:47. | |
one or more attackers but again that comes back to what I was saying. We | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
have had multiple reports, some saying it it was someone acting | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
alone, some saying there were more than one person involved, nor it | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
seems at the moment, can be Interior Ministry be sure. Let's go back to | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
Christian. You know Paris very well that many people watching will not | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
been to Paris. What is the Champs-Elysees like at this time of | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
the evening of people been doing the? They would be going on a | :53:17. | :53:23. | |
promenade. People come out to walk up and down the street and take on | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
the sites and meet people, go to the shops. The people who have never | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
been here, it is very much like Oxford Street or Regent's Street. It | :53:34. | :53:40. | |
is a very big pavement. You could have 20 or 30 people deep at any one | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
time. I walked up there the night and it was really busy because it is | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
that sort of night where people can sit out on the terraces of cafes, | :53:50. | :53:53. | |
bright blue skies, everyone was enjoying the sunshine this evening, | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
and at that time in the evening when it happened, at around 8:50pm local | :53:58. | :54:05. | |
time, that would be peak tourist time, but just how quickly the | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
situation changed was extraordinary. We will broadcasting at the foot of | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
the building here, talking to you. First one police car and then | :54:14. | :54:18. | |
another, and then they came from all directions. Where to go out on the | :54:19. | :54:25. | |
police radio, it was police cars and ambulances, an unmarked police cars, | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
in such a tearing hurry to get to the Champs-Elysees to find out what | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
was going on and perhaps helped colleagues, they almost knocked down | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
pedestrians, it was bedlam for five or ten minutes. I sure do those | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
pictures. This picture of the bus that was suddenly surrounded on the | :54:44. | :54:51. | |
12 by probably seven or eight police cars. Armed police jumped out. You | :54:52. | :54:59. | |
can see them with their prizes on. They got everybody of this boss and | :55:00. | :55:01. | |
it was clear to me they thought someone was on that bus who might | :55:02. | :55:04. | |
have got away from the Champs-Elysees because there were | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
other buses going around but this particular boss was a focus for | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
attention. I do not know why, but it suggests to me they thought there | :55:15. | :55:17. | |
was somebody who might have been connected to the attack on that bus, | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
trying to leave the scene. Right now, it is reasonably quiet. We are | :55:23. | :55:29. | |
hearing some reports there is an ongoing operation around the | :55:30. | :55:32. | |
Champs-Elysees. The focus seems to be in eastern Paris in a building | :55:33. | :55:40. | |
they know to be connected with this attacker and they will hope to glean | :55:41. | :55:43. | |
as much intelligence from that as they can over the coming hours to | :55:44. | :55:47. | |
avoid any repeat of what has happened this evening. I have one | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
more question for you about politics. Let me show everyone | :55:52. | :55:55. | |
watching the response we have seen from the four people who have a | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
realistic chance of becoming the next French president. There are 11 | :56:00. | :56:03. | |
candidates but realistically only four have a prospect of getting | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
through round one and into the final round which is a head-to-head. We | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
have heard from awful. Emmanuel Macron says, I want to show all my | :56:13. | :56:20. | |
solidarity with our law enforcement. Francois Fillon says, the picture be | :56:21. | :56:24. | |
to the security forces who give their lives to protect ours. | :56:25. | :56:29. | |
Jean-Luc Melenchon said, thoughts for the police dead and injured, | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
terrorist acts never go unpunished. And then Marina pen, who has been | :56:35. | :56:45. | |
leading the polls for the last few weeks, says, emotion and solidarity | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
for our security forces again being targeted. That phrase from Marine Le | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
Pen highlights a big issue she has emphasised throughout this campaign | :56:57. | :57:00. | |
which you feel that front is not getting it security right. A lot of | :57:01. | :57:06. | |
candidates will focus on that and the need for more resources for the | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
intelligence services. I was talking to a Europe Minister tonight, and | :57:12. | :57:18. | |
outward looking liberal guy, who is supporting Francois Fillon, he says | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
the threat is severe in France. He says there are 15,000 people in | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
France that need to be watched, and clearly you cannot watch all those | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
people were any one time. So, yes, there will a debate in France about | :57:31. | :57:37. | |
providing more resources for the security services, but surely there | :57:38. | :57:40. | |
also has to be a conversation about the division in French society. They | :57:41. | :57:44. | |
talk about the gulf between inner-city Paris and the urban | :57:45. | :57:52. | |
centres like this, and its housing and opportunities and opportunities | :57:53. | :57:59. | |
for migrant communities that underscore and create this division | :58:00. | :58:02. | |
in French society, and that has to be looked at as part of the | :58:03. | :58:06. | |
political debate as well. Christian, thank you very much for your help | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
over the last hour. Let's recap what we have learnt in the last hour. One | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
police officer has lost his life after being shot in the | :58:19. | :58:21. | |
Champs-Elysees. The person who carried out the attack has been shot | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
dead but it is not clear if he or she was acting alone but the French | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
interior ministry is denying reports a second police officer has died, | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
but they are telling us two police officers are seriously wounded. | :58:35. | :58:39. | |
These pictures are live from Paris at the moment. You can see various | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
personnel going over that particular vehicle in great detail. That | :58:45. | :58:48. | |
matches what we were told a few minutes ago, that one particular | :58:49. | :58:53. | |
vehicle was being focused on. Let's check on one last time nor the | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
latest information coming in to the BBC newsroom. Very interesting from | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
Reuters. Police have issued an arrest warrant for a second suspect | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
in the shooting who arrived from Belgium by train. If that is true, | :59:11. | :59:14. | |
that changes the nature of the story we are talking about. That is just a | :59:15. | :59:23. | |
police source speaking to Reuters. Then we have the French interior | :59:24. | :59:27. | |
Ministry spokesperson saying that they cannot exclude that there were | :59:28. | :59:31. | |
one or more attackers. While there is more and more information coming | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
in as to what happened in central Paris this evening, a lot of things | :59:37. | :59:42. | |
remain unknown, not just the journalists covering the story, but | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
the authorities as well. This is a developing situation in Paris and | :59:48. | :59:49. | |
you will get the very latest from all of us here in the BBC newsroom. | :59:50. | :59:54. | |
Coverage continues over the next few minutes. Goodbye. | :59:55. | :59:59. |