<p>European Union leaders expressed solidarity with France on Thursday and pledged to confront "those that seek to incite and spread hatred" after a knifeman killed three in a Nice church.</p>.<p>"I condemn the odious and brutal attack that has just taken place in Nice and I am with France with all my heart," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.</p>.<p>"My thoughts are with the victims of this hateful act. All of Europe is in solidarity with France. We will remain united and determined in the face of barbarity and fanaticism."</p>.<p>Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, dubbed the attack "abominable" and declared: All of Europe is with you."</p>.<p>And David Sassoli, speaker of the European Parliament, said: "We have a duty to stand together against violence and those that seek to incite and spread hatred."</p>.<p>French anti-terror prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the attack, in which a man wielding a knife entered the Basilica of Notre-Dame in the Mediterranean city of Nice and killed three people.</p>.<p>France was already on a heightened state of tension in the wake of the October 16 murder of a history teacher, Samuel Paty, who had been denounced by Muslim parents after showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.</p>.<p>After the killing, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of cartoonists to lampoon religious figures, and anti-French protests have erupted in parts of the Muslim world.</p>
<p>European Union leaders expressed solidarity with France on Thursday and pledged to confront "those that seek to incite and spread hatred" after a knifeman killed three in a Nice church.</p>.<p>"I condemn the odious and brutal attack that has just taken place in Nice and I am with France with all my heart," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.</p>.<p>"My thoughts are with the victims of this hateful act. All of Europe is in solidarity with France. We will remain united and determined in the face of barbarity and fanaticism."</p>.<p>Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, dubbed the attack "abominable" and declared: All of Europe is with you."</p>.<p>And David Sassoli, speaker of the European Parliament, said: "We have a duty to stand together against violence and those that seek to incite and spread hatred."</p>.<p>French anti-terror prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the attack, in which a man wielding a knife entered the Basilica of Notre-Dame in the Mediterranean city of Nice and killed three people.</p>.<p>France was already on a heightened state of tension in the wake of the October 16 murder of a history teacher, Samuel Paty, who had been denounced by Muslim parents after showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.</p>.<p>After the killing, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of cartoonists to lampoon religious figures, and anti-French protests have erupted in parts of the Muslim world.</p>