We are now ending our coverage of today's events in France after yesterday's knife attack at a playground in the eastern city of Annecy.

To read the latest on this story, head here.

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Today's page was brought to you by our writers Laura Gozzi, Jack Burgess and Sam Hancock; the editors were Alexandra Fouché, Alys Davies and James FitzGerald; and we had help from video producer Anna Boyd.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

If you're just joining us, here's a recap of today's main developments:

• There has been "positive" news about the condition of the four children injured in yesterday's knife attack in Annecy, French President Emmanuel Macron has said

• A young British girl who received surgery after the attack has "woken up", the president said while meeting rescue workers in the Alpine town
• A Dutch girl who was also attacked is "out of danger", Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said
• Earlier, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said all four children who were injured had now been operated on and were stable
• The suspected attacker is a 31-year-old Syrian man with refugee status in Sweden, who is thought to have been living homeless in Annecy and is now in police custody
• Although there are growing questions about his psychological state, he underwent an assessment earlier which deemed him to be fit to remain in police custody

People have been leaving tributes at the playground where the stabbings took place yesterday.

They have brought flowers, balloons, pictures and teddy bears at Le Pâquier park to pay their respects.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Reuters

The Annecy mayor's office said earlier a "peaceful gathering", external would take place this weekend.

On Thursday, the regional prefect asked people not to organise spontaneous meetings after right-wing groups issued calls on social media for protests.

French media reported that around 50 people gathered near the playground where the attack happened for an unsanctioned rally.

Many were wearing black face masks and shouted "France for the French", Le Parisien reported.

"Children should never be harmed," the mayor of Annecy, François Astorg, told reporters after Macron's visit.

Yesterday's events were a "tragedy, a barbaric act", he stated.

The attack brings "huge pain for everyone. It's important that we come together to denounce what happened," he added, thanking the "chain of co-operation and solidarity" that "probably - or at least we hope so - meant that the affected children and adults will pull through".

During his meeting with rescue workers in Annecy, Macron said the young British girl who was caught up in yesterday's attack and who received surgery had "woken up".

"She is watching TV and [the attack] is just a bad memory already," he is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"Doctors are optimistic," Macron added, though he said caution was still required.

Anna Holligan
Hague correspondent

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra says he is “relieved to hear that the Dutch girl who fell victim to the stabbing in Annecy yesterday is out of danger".

He adds that the Dutch ambassador in Switzerland has spoken to one of the girl's parents.

"We support them as best we can during this difficult time.”

Image source, REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

We have a bit more from President Macron now, who's said in Annecy that he's heard "positive" news about the condition of the children injured in the attack.

"Everything that I was told is heading in the right direction," he says.

Macron continues his address in Annecy by saying that attacking children is "the most barbaric act".

He says: "I wanted to thank you on behalf of the nation for what you did... Now is time for you to think about yourselves, especially those who intervened first... Some [psychological] wounds will have to be healed so they don't reopen later."

He also says he is "proud" of the rescuers and bystanders who intervened: "I am proud of what was done by our fellow citizens who simply happened to be there. I am proud of the role you took on... By just doing your duty, you did so much more than that."

Macron ends by saying: "You showed the face of a France that saves, that intervenes, that heals... You have my gratitude and my admiration."

In Annecy, President Macron addresses members of the emergency services who intervened to stop the attacker in the park as well as bystanders who were caught up in the attack.

"You have been remarkable," he tells them.

"We owe you a lot," he adds.

Image source, REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Macron now meets Henri, the so-called "backpack hero" who used his backpack to stop the attacker.

Henri says he reacted quickly, in an "instinctive way" and tried get the attacker to flee.

He goes on to ask Macron if he could be invited to the inauguration of Notre-Dame Cathedral - which was partially destroyed in a large fire in 2019 - when it re-opens. Macron says he will personally make sure he is invited.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Macron thanks emergency workers - which include police and medical staff - for the speed of their intervention, which he says was a "determining factor" in the rescue efforts.

He is flanked by his wife Brigitte and the mayor of Annecy, François Astorg, during his visit.

Image source, REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

French President Emmanuel Macron is now meeting people involved in stopping the knifeman and the emergency efforts that followed the attack in Annecy on Thursday morning.

A British mother of two who lives in Annecy says her heart is breaking for the victims of yesterday's knife attack at a park in Annecy.

Katie Jackson, 39, told the PA news agency: "I know there was a British girl and they were here on holiday, and my heart just breaks for them."

She said her son was hoping to visit the park - known as the pirate playground - for his birthday yesterday.

She added that she had received countless phone calls from friends and family in the UK asking if she was safe.

A bit more now on the stabbing victim we mentioned in our last post, who President Macron is visiting at a hospital in Annecy.

French media say this is the man who was injured by not only the knifeman but also by a police bullet.

Local prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis has said that one of the two adults hurt in Annecy yesterday was shot when officers fired at the knifeman while trying to detain him.

French media report that President Macron has arrived at the hospital in Annecy, and is visiting a man who was stabbed by the assailant during yesterday's attack.

Former Liverpool FC footballer Anthony Le Tallec - who was jogging in the park in Annecy when the stabbings took place - says yesterday was "the worst day of my life, as I unfortunately witnessed an abhorrent act inflicted on defenceless victims".

"I can't stop thinking about the families that have been affected by this dramatic event," Le Tallec writes on Twitter, external.

He also addresses the apparent criticism he's received for suggesting the police were "slow" to shoot the attacker. He says he posted his Instagram video "in the heat of the moment". (You can watch his video below but please bear in mind that it contains upsetting material.)

In his tweet, Le Tallec adds that he was in a "state of shock", having just had a "brush with death". Le Tallec clarifies: "I want to say that police chased the assailant with a lot of courage and did their best to protect people... I am not questioning their bravery".

Lucy Williamson
Paris correspondent, in Annecy

The playground by the lake in Annecy is full today. There’s not a child in sight - the glare of television cameras trained on the climbing frames is keeping parents away.

But their place has been taken by a crowd of journalists, and local people coming to leave tributes along the playground wall: white flowers for the innocence of the victims, and messages that hint at the outrage in France.

“Innocence attacked!” one reads, while another says: “We must not fear the evil that sometimes resides in people."

Matic William, a 40-year-old shopkeeper from the area, says he often brought his three-year-old son to the playground.

“It feels like we’re in another world,” he tells us. “You can feel this very heavy atmosphere, this tension.”

Henri, the 24-year-old man who used his backpack to try to block the attacker in the Annecy park, has been speaking to France's BFMTV channel, external.

He said: "At times like that, you do whatever you can with whatever you've got.

"Many other people intervened in whatever way they could - I saw a park employee try to hit the attacker with his big plastic spade," Henri said.

He added: "I acted like any French person would... If there is any lesson to be learned from my experience, it's that anything is possible if you stop being passive in the face of attacks of this kind."

Image source, Reuters

Here's what we've learned this morning about yesterday's knife attack in a park in Annecy:

• All four children who were injured have now been operated on and are stable, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said
• The suspect - a Syrian man with refugee status in Sweden - is thought to have been living homeless in Annecy. He will remain in police custody
• He has no recorded history of psychiatric illness, but there are growing questions about his current mental state
• He has an ex-wife and a three-year-old child in Sweden

• President Macron visited some of the children in hospital in the city of Grenoble and will be in Annecy this afternoon