PARIS
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Thursday that democracy was the target of Wednesday’s attack on a museum in Tunisia that left at least 23 people, including 20 foreign tourists, dead.
Valls said that this, "new act of barbarism is a new alarm that the world has changed."
"We are all Tunisians. Je suis Tunisien (I am Tunisian)," he continued.
"Once again, the world has been seized with fear. Once again, democracy has been targeted. The great, exemplary Tunisian democracy was targeted. Once again, they wanted to break down freedom and destroy universal culture," Valls told a press conference in Paris.
The French premier also expressed the support of his country to the Tunisian government and people.
"We feel Tunisian. We are all Tunisians, as the president (Francois Hollande) has said. We support the Tunisian government and the Tunisian people in their fight against terrorism," he said.
The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, is due to visit Tunisia on Friday.
Tunisian security forces detained nine suspects on Thursday, including four who are believed to have been directly involved in the deadly attack.
"Security forces arrested four suspects for direct links to the attack on the Bardo Museum," said Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid.
The arrests came the day after at least 23 people, including 20 foreign tourists, were killed when gunmen stormed Tunis' Bardo Museum on Wednesday.
Tourists from the UK, Italy, France, Japan, Poland and Spain were among those killed. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
In 2002, at least 14 people, including seven foreign tourists, were killed in an attack on a Jewish synagogue in western Tunisia.
