Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, is studying political science and anthropology, right-wing nationalist and Le-Pen supporter. Migrants are 20% of the population in Canada. But there are no religious tensions in the country. Trudeau: All persecuted are welcome.
Montreal (AsiaNews) - A French-Canadian university student, Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, is accused of having carried out the massacre at the mosque in Quebec City, which killed six people during the Islamic evening prayer on January 29. There were about fifty people in the building. Among the 19 injured, five are still in hospital and two in serious condition.
The young man (see photo) was arrested in his car, where he called the police and offered to collaborate. He attended the Laval University, a few kilometers from the Islamic center, he is studying political science and anthropology, and on his Facebook page has often praised the right-wing nationalism and the Marine Le-Pen party in France.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack an "act of terrorism" against persons killed because of their religion and expressed his closeness and that of the whole country to the more than one million Muslims living in Canada.
Several media link the attack to the tension caused by President Donald Trump’s US entry ban on seven Muslim majority countries, but according to local dignitaries in Canada and in Quebec religious tension or that towards migrants it is not as strong as in Europe or the US, although the foreign migrants constitute 20% of the population. Nevertheless, that the Islamic center in Quebec City has been the subject of past offenses.
Immediately after Trump’s order, Trudeau responded with a message on Twitter: "To those who are fleeing persecution, terror and war, Canadians welcome you, whatever your faith. Diversity is our strength. # Welcome to Canada ".