French police arrest man suspected of attack on synagogue

RFI

25 August 2024 at 8:24 am·2-min read

French police have arrested a man suspected of setting fires and causing an explosion at a synagogue in a southern resort on Saturday in what officials are treating as a terror attack, the country's interior minister said.

"The alleged perpetrator of the arson attack at the synagogue has been arrested," Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said in a social media post on Saturday evening, adding that officers who made the arrest came under fire and had shown "great professionalism".

French prosecutors said the suspect was arrested in the southern city of Nimes shortly before midnight Saturday.

He was shot and injured by police after he opened fire on officers during the arrest. His life was not in danger.

“He opened fire on the police intervention unit, which returned fire, injuring [the suspect] in the face," the National Antiterrorism Prosecutor’s Office, tasked with investigating the incident, said in a statement Sunday.

Two other people linked to the suspect were also taken into custody, it added.

Police earlier said they were hunting for a man who, draped in a Palestinian flag, was believed to have set fires at the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the southern seaside resort of La Grande Motte, triggering an explosion that injured an officer.

French media reported that the suspect was a 33-year-old Algerian national, residing legally in France.

Tragedy narrowly avoided

Two fires were also started at the entrance of the synagogue, damaging two doors, but were quickly put out.

Images of an individual setting fire to the cars were picked up on CCTV.

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Tragedy narrowly avoided

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