A man suspected of trying to set a synagogue ablaze in the southern French city of la Grande-Motte was arrested late Saturday after a shoot out with police, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
About 200 police officers had been hunting for the suspect, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal confirmed earlier, adding the attacker had set fire to several entry doors to the synagogue and several cars nearby, as Breitbart News reported.
Earlier the alleged arsonist had been seen running from the front of the Jewish religious building on foot, his face uncovered, a red keffiyeh on his head.
This CCTV image obtained by AFP on August 24, 2024 shows a potential suspect carrying two empty bottles and a Palestinian flag draped around his waist, leaving the scene where two cars outside the synagogue burst into flames after a gas canister likely exploded, in La Grande-Motte. (Photo by – / AFP)
He was also reportedly wearing a Palestinian flag wrapped around his waist alongside two plastic bottles containing a yellowish liquid in his hands, Le Parisian reports.
Jewish community leader Yonathan Arfi said the incident was “an attempt to kill Jews” and seemed to have been timed to target Saturday morning worshippers.
President Emmanuel Macron said the incident was “a terrorist act.”
BFM TV said the suspect was a 33-year-old Algerian. Local police declined to give further details, Reuters reports.
“Before the police could intervene, (the suspect) opened fire on the (police), which returned fire. The man was wounded in the face,” the office said in a statement describing the moments leading up to the apprehension and arrest.
Two other people were taken into custody after the incident.
A policeman was slightly injured when a gas bottle exploded as police secured the site of the attack on Saturday morning, Attal said.
“This is an antisemitic attack. Once more, our Jewish compatriots are targeted,” Attal said on X.
France’s Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal (C) and France’s Minister for the Interior and Overseas, Gerald Darmanin (R) flanked by Police prefect of the Herault department Francois Xavier Lauch (2nd R) and France’s Secretary of State for Citizenship Sabrina Agresti-Roubache (L) speak to the press at the site of a fire and explosion of cars at a synagogue in La Grande-Motte, south of France, on August 24, 2024. (PASCAL GUYOT/AFP via Getty)
“In the face of antisemitism, in the face of violence, we will never allow ourselves to be intimidated.”
After visiting the synagogue, Attal said an “absolute tragedy” had been narrowly averted after firefighters and police arrived quickly at the scene.
The arrest came within hours of an asylum seeker from Syria being apprehended after a mass stabbing at a “festival of diversity” in Germany on Friday evening, as Breitbart News reported.
At around 11 pm local time on Saturday, over 24 hours after the attack in Solingen, 26-year-old “Issa al H.” surrendered to police.
France, like other countries in Europe, has seen a surge in antisemitic incidents following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
The latest survey from the E.U.’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) published last month confirmed Jewish people in the bloc continue to face high levels of antisemitism.
More than 8,000 Jews in 13 E.U. countries, including Germany and France, were interviewed. Some 96 percent said they had encountered antisemitism in their daily lives.