Deranged man fires at Chirac at Bastille Day parade

A deranged neo-Nazi fired a rifle shot in an attempt to assassinate President Jacques Chirac during France's Bastille Day parade yesterday, but the man was quickly subdued and the march continued uninterrupted.

The 25-year-old man, wearing a hooded black jacket, pulled the .22 calibre sporting rifle out of a brown guitar case and fired at 0755 GMT as Chirac passed by in an open military jeep.

He was rapidly overpowered by bystanders, then thrown to the ground, handcuffed and led away by police - both uniformed and plainclothed - responding to cries from onlookers standing opposite the Arc de Triomphe.

Chirac, at the head of the march commemorating the 1789 French Revolution, did not hear the shot and was informed of the incident later.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed the man had aimed at Chirac and said the president was within range of the shooter, who was standing 100 to 150 metres away from the vehicle in which Chirac was travelling.

"The range of a .22 calibre rifle is significantly greater than 150 metres," Sarkozy told a news conference yesterday evening. "The individual said he intended to kill the president and then commit suicide."

The police said the man, who lived with his parents in Courcouronnes, south of Paris, was "known to belong to neo-Nazi and hooligan movements".

At an interrogation after the shooting, police sources said the man appeared highly disorientated and was therefore sent to a police psychiatric unit for observation.

"He was someone who appeared very calm and kept to himself," Arnaud Leblanc, a neighbour, told France 2 television.

A French-Canadian tourist, Mohamed Chelali, who witnessed the incident, told LCI television he had helped subdue the man immediately after the shot was fired.

"Mr Chirac was passing by in his car when I felt the crowd move on my right side," Chelali said. "Then I saw, two or three metres from me, a man aiming in the direction of the president."

"Someone next to me hit the hand of the shooter while I grabbed hold of part of the weapon. A third took hold of the top of the rifle."

The police did not transfer the case to the anti-terrorist unit and appeared to be treating it as an isolated incident.

"I don't think there was any plot because the shooter would have used a gun of a larger calibre," said Nicolas Couteau of the Force Ouvriere police union. "It looks like the act of a demented person."

Sarkozy, Chirac's new security tsar, said the shooter had bought the rifle last week by legal means, but had not declared the purchase, as required by law.

Sarkozy said he had asked police officials for a report by next week on what could be learned from the incident. "It is not ordinary in a democracy when someone tries to kill the president," he said.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was quick to express his outrage over the incident.

"Hearing of the criminal gesture that shook the July 14 anniversary... I want to pass on to you assurances both of my own personal friendship and the solidarity of the Italian people," Ciampi said in a message to Chirac.

In London, a spokesman for British leader Tony Blair said: "The Prime Minister was very concerned by news of this incident. Obviously he is relieved that no one was injured."

The parade went ahead under cloudy skies, and followed calls from Chirac and Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie for higher defence spending to fight terrorism and catch up with Europe's other main military power, Britain.

At the front of the parade were 163 West Point officer cadets, sporting the trim grey jackets and white trousers of the US military academy, invited as this year's main guests.

West Point is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, as is the French military academy Saint-Cyr whose cadets marched in their blue jackets and red trousers.

In another sign of French-American partnership, 75 New York City firemen and relatives of firefighters who died in the suicide plane attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11 watched the parade as guests of their Paris colleagues.

A New York pumper truck flying an American flag rumbled down the avenue with the Paris firemen's contingent, to the applause of the crowd.

In a televised interview after the parade, Chirac said France aimed to boost its defence spending and was considering building a second aircraft carrier.

He also confirmed France's opposition to reforming the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) before its current budget expired in 2006. The European Commission put forward reform proposals last Wednesday.

"I won't sacrifice France's capacity as the world's leading food exporter and second exporter of agricultural products... for reasons that do not seem justified to me," Chirac said.

He confirmed the new centre-right government would continue cutting income taxes after a five percent decrease announced for this year, but declined to confirm they would fall by one-third over the five-year legislative period.