THE BACKPACK hero who took on the knifeman during the Annecy playground stabbings still has terrible images in his head, he revealed.
Henri, 24, bravely intervened in Thursday’s horror incident in France that saw four kids stabbed and other seriously injured.
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The frenchman’s valiant effort is believed to have slowed down the maniac knifeman’s rampage with cops able to chase down the attacker and arrest him.
Footage showed Henri swinging his bags at the knife-wielding man who appears to lose his adrenalin-raged momentum.
The heroic man is then seen chasing him around the playground and eventually away from the children into a park.
Henri has since been labelled “The Backpack Hero” and was even lauded by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Henri told CNews: “I acted really instinctively, I acted like any Frenchman would have done, I did everything to protect the weakest.
“What I did, anyone could have done. I followed my instinct.”
However, following the terrifying ordeal – Henri told Le Parisien he was suffering from the incident.
He said: “I have atrocious images in my head.
“I was the main witness, I gave a long testimony of three hours, described each second in several sentences.
“I fell asleep with a good sleeping pill.”
According to Catholic newspaper Aleteia, Henri is a graduate in philosophy and holds a master’s degree in management.
He was reportedly travelling across the country visiting various cathedrals and was in the lakeside town at the time of the attack.
He said: “All I know is I was not there by chance.
“I felt a great strength in me, it was intolerable that children are being attacked in front of me.
“Lots of people send me messages of support.
“I am thinking above all of the victims and their families, I hope they are well, that they will come out of this.”
According to Le Parisien, Macron will meet with the hero man this week.
His Facebook and Instagram accounts were also flooded with messages giving thanks for his bravery.
“May God bless you … you did what you could at that moment, you did not give up, you did not run. You are an angel,” an Instagram user said.
It comes after cops arrested the alleged attacker, a 31-year old Syrian national who was granted asylum in Sweden ten years ago.
Horror footage showed the maniac knifeman stalking the busy park in Lake Annecy before lunging at the kids in front of terrified parents.
One of the two pensioners caught up in the attack told Reuters he had been sitting on a park bench when the attacker approached on the run.
“He probably wanted to create one more victim,” said Youssouf, who asked to withhold his family name.
Former Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec also happened to be at the scene and shared a video on his Instagram story.
He said: “I was running by the Lake and I saw around ten people running in the opposite direction to me.
“I asked them what was happening and someone told me, run, run, there is someone stabbing people.
“He has stabbed some children, run, run!”
An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: “The man was shouting in English, and caused absolute panic when he started attacking the little ones.
“He wanted to hurt as many people as he could. He caused carnage. The young children were just easy targets.”
Another witness told Le Dauphine: “After people tried to scare him, he walked away and the police intervened.
“He spoke English. In the beginning, we all thought it was staged, but with the cries of people, we realised that its reality, the guy was confused.”
Prime Minister of France Elisabeth Borne said: “Our whole country is in shock.”
The knifeman was later identified as asylum seeker Abdalmash H, 32, who arrived in the country in 2022.
The Syrian national had arrived in Sweden in 2013 and was granted refugee status in April.
But he had also applied for asylum in France in November, it was reported.
He was not known to security agencies and French prosecutors said they do not believe he has a “terrorist motive”.
Speaking to France Bleu, an eyewitness reported that the man had been going to the playground every day for the past two months.
“He was there every morning, from morning to night and everyone had spotted him a bit because he was all alone.”
The suspect’s ex-wife, who is living in Sweden, had not heard from him for four months, BFMTV reported.
The couple are said to have separated eight months ago – with his wife looking after their child.
The TV channel also reported the suspect was “homeless” and he was from Hassake, Syria.
French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the stabbing as an act “of absolute cowardice.”
“The nation is shocked. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the emergency services,” he wrote on Twitter.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she is “appalled” by the attack and tweeted: “I am appalled by the attack on young children in Annecy, France.
“My thoughts are with the children, their families and the local community who have been affected by this shocking act.
“I’m in touch with my friend, Minister GDarmanin to offer our full support.”
François Astorg, the Mayor of Annecy, said: “Appalling attack this morning on the Paquier park in Annecy.
“All my thoughts to the victims and families.”
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James Liveris
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