France must develop a "society of vigilance" in its fight against the "Hydra" of Islamist militancy, President
Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, as he paid homage to the victims of a deadly knife attack at the headquarters of the
Paris police.
Initial investigations have revealed that the Martinique-born man, a convert to Islam, had contacts with individuals likely to belong to an Islamist Salafist movement, according to prosecutors.
"The administrative services alone, and all the combined services of the state alone, will not be able to overcome the Islamist 'Hydra'," said Macron, during the somber ceremony held in pouring rain at the
police headquarters near Notre Dame Cathedral.