The suspect in the three fatal shootings at a Kurdish community center in Paris admitted to police that his goal was to "murder refugees."
On Friday, a 69-year-old retiree shot three other people before being disarmed and taken down by one of the wounded people as he entered a barbershop close to the center.
He was held and may be charged with racially motivated murder, attempted murder, and breaches of the weapons laws.
Following a home invasion in 2016, the prosecutor's office said the unidentified suspect had a "hatred for immigrants that became utterly pathological."
The suspect said he travelled to Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, with the intention of killing foreigners, but changed his mind. After that, he visited the Kurdish center close to his parents' house.
One of the fatalities was Emine Kara, a French Kurdish Women's Movement leader. Additionally, the attack claimed the lives of two other individuals, including the artist and political exile Mir Perwer.
The shooting, according to French President Emmanuel Macron, was a "odious crime" on Kurds, and he urged the city's police commander to meet with local authorities.
Following the incident, anti-racism organizations, left-wing lawmakers, and Kurdish activists demonstrated in Paris on Saturday.
Thousands of people gathered at the Place de la République in eastern Paris, waving flags for various causes, including political parties and organizations that support Kurdish rights.
Although the event was mainly peaceful, some demonstrators launched objects and engaged in combat with police who used tear gas. Some individuals in the crowd yelled anti-Turkish government chants.
The incident has reverberations all throughout the world. Hundreds of members of the Kurdish community in northern Syria protested, accusing Turkey of planning to assassinate Kurdish activists abroad.
"It is a conflict with our people. They not only have us in mind in the four Kurdistan areas, but also throughout Europe. They want to see our people die, "A Syrian Kurdish demonstrator named Azad Suleiman remarked.
Turkish security forces have been engaged in a protracted conflict with PKK-affiliated Kurdish insurgents in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey. A number of airstrikes against Syrian Kurdish sites in northern Syria have just lately been conducted by the Turkish military.
-By Shreejan Paudel