Switzerland: Man shouting "Allahu Akbar" causes terrorism scare

Photo: Wikipedia/Rama

A man shouting "Allahu Akbar" made people flee for their lives during a terrorism scare at a Metro station in Lausanne, Switzerland. Prosecutors say the man was suffering from a paranoid episode and presented no immediate danger to the public.

Commotion and panic erupted at the Bessieres Metro station at around 1:30 pm on Friday as the doors of a train opened and its passengers flooded out, running for the exit when a man began shouting the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar," which means 'God is great'.

"We wondered if we were going to hear an explosion behind us," a witness told the newspaper 24 Heures.

Police then arrived on the scene and arrested the suspect, a 30-year-old Swiss resident from Western Sahara, a territory formally under Moroccan control, and charged him with 'threats causing public alarm' under Article 258 of the Penal...