Visitors to the Louvre learned by loudspeaker announcement of Friday’s attempted attack on the Paris museum and there was no panic, witnesses said, though some children cried as guards directed people to sit tight together and away from windows.
A French soldier shot and wounded a man armed with a machete and carrying two bags on his back as he tried to enter the world-renowned museum in what the government said appeared to have been a terrorist attack.
‘People understood’
“[The announcement] came over the loudspeakers that are dotted around,” said Paul Lecher (68) a retired Parisian and frequent Louvre visitor.
“Everything happened calmly,” he told Reuters. “It was just a case of listening ... People quickly understood, even those who didn’t understand a word of French, that something unusual was happening.” The Louvre, home to Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’, ancient Egyptian artefacts and countless other treasures, is a major attraction for visitors to Paris.
Visitors were kept inside for a time after the attempted attack.
France has been hit by a series of militant Islamist attacks over the past two years in which more than 230 people have been killed. The soldier who fired at the machete-wielding man was from one of the patrolling groups that have become a common sight around Paris since a state of emergency was declared across France in November 2015. It remains in force.
Around lunchtime in Paris, a notice on the Louvre's web site said it remained closed to visitors.
