France: Community prays for police officer killed after trading places with hostage

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Hundreds of people gathered in the Church of Saint-Etienne in the small French town of Trebes on Palm Sunday, to pray for the four people killed and three injured in a terror attack at a supermarket. The victims included Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 44, who was killed after taking the place of a woman hostage on Friday. Loudspeakers broadcast the Mass to crowds outside the church.

The bishop of Carcassonne and Narbonne Bishop Alain Planet celebrated the Mass.

Parish priest Philippe Guitart warned against blaming Muslims in general for the attacks. "We must help people to learn to live together," he said. Bishop Planet said there had been a long friendship with Muslims in the community and they were very badly affected by what had happened.

Fr Jean-Baptiste said that Lt-Col Beltrame was a practicing Catholic. He had married his wife Marielle, in a civil marriage in August 2016, and they were planning have a Catholic ceremony on June 9. "We spent many hours working on the basics of married life for almost two years. I had just blessed their home on December 16 and we were finalising their canonical marriage record. The very beautiful declaration of intention of Arnaud reached me four days before his heroic death."

A national service will take place next month. A silent march is planned in Carcassonne on Saturday.