Native prosecutor says two investigations into arson try and dying of unidentified suspect are underneath means.
Police in France have shot useless an armed man who was suspected of setting fireplace to a synagogue within the northern metropolis of Rouen, the authorities stated.
On Friday, police intervened at about 6:45am (04:45 GMT) after smoke was reported on the synagogue. A person on the scene, reportedly carrying a knife and a crowbar, threatened a police officer, who then “used his weapon”, stated the Rouen prosecutor.
The person was not instantly recognized.
Earlier Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on X that the armed particular person was “neutralised”.
Two investigations had been underneath means, the primary into the arson assault on a spot of worship and “intentional violence” towards police, and the second into the dying of the person, based on the prosecutor.
The Nationwide Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Workplace stated that it was at the moment assessing whether or not it might take up the case, the AFP information company reported.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the mayor of Rouen, stated the assault on the synagogue didn’t simply have an effect on worshippers, however that your complete metropolis was “bruised and in shock”.
There have been no different victims, he stated, posting on X from the scene.
“Tonight is the start of the Sabbath and it’s essential to gentle the candles to point out that we’re not afraid,” Rouen’s chief Rabbi Chmouel Lubecki advised information community BFMTV.
Excessive alert
France has the biggest Jewish group of any nation after Israel and america, in addition to Europe’s largest Muslim group. Tensions ramped up after the beginning of Israel’s struggle in Gaza on October 7 following a Hamas-led assault in southern Israel.
Pink graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompting anger together with from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.
“Trying to burn a synagogue is an try to intimidate all Jews. As soon as once more, there may be an try to impose a local weather of terror on the Jews of our nation. Combatting anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Consultant Council of Jewish Establishments of France (CRIF), wrote on X.
In 2016, Rouen was rocked by an assault later claimed by ISIS (ISIL) when a priest was killed with a knife throughout service within the city of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, within the southern a part of Rouen’s city agglomeration.
France hosts the Summer Olympic Games in two months and just lately raised its alert standing to the very best degree towards the present geopolitical backdrop.
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