Two adults and four children were injured in the assault, which shocked the country and could have been worse if not for the intervention of a 24-year-old man known only as Henri.
A day after a violent stabbing attack that injured six people, including four children, President Emmanuel Macron traveled to southeast France on Friday to meet with recovering victims and a bystander who has been hailed as “the backpack hero” after he tried to stop the assault by swinging his bag at the assailant.
Mr. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, arrived at a hospital in Grenoble, about 60 miles south of Annecy, the Alpine city where a day before a man with a switchblade knife went on a rampage, lunging at bystanders and families with strollers before police officers arrested him.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said on Friday that the children, all 3 years old or younger, had undergone surgery and were in stable condition.
The suspect was identified by the French authorities as a homeless Syrian man who had obtained refugee status in Sweden a decade ago and arrived last fall in France, where his application for asylum was rejected because of his existing status in Sweden.
People brought flowers and lit candles at a makeshift memorial near the lakeside park in Annecy where the attack unfolded, a usually peaceful spot where tourists and residents come to relax and take in views of the surrounding mountains.
After meeting with the victims and their families, Mr. Macron was scheduled to meet with a 24-year-old man known to the French public only as Henri, who received widespread praise after he intervened in the attack.
Henri, who did not give his last name in interviews with the French media, told BFMTV that he was in the park in Annecy, one of many stops on a nine-month hitchhiking trip to visit France’s cathedrals, when he saw the assailant.
