Far-right historian takes own life in Paris cathedral
Thousands of tourists are evacuated from Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after a far-right historian, who recently campaigned against France same-sex marriage law, shoots himself at the altar.
At 2pm (GMT) on Tuesday the 78-year-old man, named as far-right historian Dominique Venner (pictured below), is said to have walked into the church and placed a letter on the altar, before pulling out a gun and shooting himself in the head.
The motives for the suicide and the content of the letter are unclear. However, it has been noted that Venner had recently been involved in the campaign against the French government’s decision to legalise gay marriage. On Saturday, President Francois Hollande signed the bill into law.
Venner is known for his far-right political essays. On Tuesday he posted on his website, criticising the passing of the same-sex marriage law.
In the piece he wrote: “It won’t be enough to organise pleasant little protests in the streets to stop it (a process towards the demoralisation of France). We would first have to undergo a truly intellectual and moral reform as Renan said. This reform would have to allow for a rehabilitiation of France’s identity, which is crucial.
“We definitely need new spectacular and symbolic gestures to jolt the sleepy minds, to shake anaesthetised consciences and wake our memories up. We are entering a time where words need to be authenticised by acts.
“We also need to remind ourselves that as Heidigger so rightly put it, that the essence of man is in its existence and not in ‘the world beyond’. It is here and now that our destinies are being defined.
“This is why we have to be ourselves right up to the last moment. It is by deciding ourselves, by really wanting our destiny, that we will vanquish the abyss. There is no escape from this necessity because we only have this life with which we can be entirely true to ourselves or be nothing at all.”
It is the first suicide at the church in decades, and is thought to be the first suicide at the altar. Previous suicides have tended to be people throwing themselves from the cathedral’s towers.
“It’s unfortunate, it’s dramatic, it’s shocking,” said Monsignor Patrick Jacquin, the cathedral’s rector.
Around 1,500 visitors were evacuated from the building, which has 13 million visitors a year, following the shooting.
Tuesday’s death comes less than a week after another suicide in central Paris, when a man shot himself in front of schoolchildren at a private Catholic school.