French crowd gathers for anti-islamophobia rally in Paris suburb after attack

Staying in France, a rally against racism and Islamophobia is expected to be held later today in the Parisian suburb of Trappes. It comes one week after a gunman carried out an attack that killed one person and injured seven others. The suspect in the shooting was charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise. According to officials, he admitted to having specifically targeted individuals who appeared to be Muslim, African or North African and to have chosen the town of Trappes, which he viewed as a den of Islamists, as the location for his actions. We can cross now to our reporter who's standing by in the Parisian suburb of La Verrière, Morgan Ayer. So, Morgan, there's this rally planned against. Racism and Islamophobia, what's happening where you are? Bon Dieu d'avoir gardé ma fille en vie So, currently where I'm standing in La Verrière, in front of the town hall, a civic meeting has just started. It's a public gathering, as you said, to address the deadly shooting that took place last week in this area. The sign on top of the town hall says, in the face of horror, we stand united. That does appear to be playing out here with lots of... Local people, local residents, local representatives here, including national figures such as Edouard Philippe, who's a presidential candidate, he'll be here as well at this, and it's to pay tribute to the victim of the attack and those who were injured. We spoke to one resident, she's called Monica. She's lived here for around 30 years, and she said there's a real sense of fear currently in the area. She said people look at each other differently on the bus She hasn't experienced something like this before. So it's really had quite an impact on the population here in La Verrière. Later on, as you mentioned, there will be another gathering in Trapp. It's going to be a big protest against racism. There's going to be a lot of figures from the left, such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Raphael Glucksmann. They'll be there and that will take place later on this evening. Morgan, what's the context for this gathering? Why is everyone coming out today? So as you said in your introduction, they're coming out to stand against racism and Islamophobia. This attack was a targeted attack. It was premeditated. There was one victim of it who has sadly died and there were several other people injured including a 12-year-old girl who suffered eight bullets. She was shot several times and she's in hospital along with other victims. And people are really coming out here to say, no, this is not what we stand for. In the area, and the attacker, he was known to the police, he had prior convictions. They found literature such as Hitler's Mein Kampf he had in his possession. He also had stickers of the far-right National Rally. They're an anti-immigration party, but he says he has no affiliation to any particular party. So that's why everyone's coming out today to say no to racism in this area. Morgan, thank you so much for keeping us updated. That's our reporter, Morgan Ayer, in the Parisian suburb of La Verrière.