Interior ministry says armed suspect ‘neutralised’ after attempting to set fire to synagogue in Normandy city
French police have shot dead a man armed with a knife and iron bar who tried to set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen, officials said.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, posted on X that the man had been “neutralised”, and he thanked officers for their “reactivity and their courage”.
Police responded at 6.45am on Friday to reports of a fire near the synagogue in Rouen, 80 miles (130km) north-west of Paris.
A source close to the case told Agence France-Presse that the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired”.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
French police have shot dead a man armed with a knife and iron bar who tried to set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen, officials said.
A source close to the case told Agence France-Presse that the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired”.
“I decided to open the shutters of my apartment, and indeed I saw smoke coming from the synagogue, the police, the firefighters and in the street a body - that of the attacker who was shot,” he told AFP.
Elie Korchia, the president of France’s Consistoire Central Jewish worshippers’ body, said police had “avoided another antisemitic tragedy”.
After red hand graffiti was painted on to France’s Holocaust Memorial this week, Emmanuel Macron condemned “odious antisemitism”.
Earlier this month the prime minister, Gabriel Attal, said 366 antisemitic acts had been recorded in France in the first quarter of 2024 – a 300% increase on the same period in 2023.
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