In the case of the explosion in front of a synagogue in the south of France, the suspected perpetrator has been arrested. Acting Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced this on Friday night. The suspect fired shots before being arrested, the anti-terror prosecutor’s office said. The police fired back, injuring him in the face.
Almost 200 police officers and gendarmes searched for the suspected perpetrator for hours. There were several searches before he was finally caught in Nîmes, which is around 40 kilometers from the attack site in La Grande-Motte. Two people close to the man were also taken into police custody.
Early on Saturday morning, two doors of the synagogue in the town of La Grande-Motte near Montpellier were set on fire. Two cars in front of the building also went up in flames and a gas bottle exploded nearby. A police officer was slightly injured. The five people who were in the synagogue at the time were unharmed.
The anti-terror prosecutor’s office is investigating attempted murder with terrorism-related links, the formation of a terrorist organization and destruction with dangerous means. “The initial investigations indicate that the perpetrator was carrying a Palestinian flag and a weapon,” the prosecutor’s office said. It is also being examined how the suspected perpetrator prepared the crime and how he fled.
France’s current Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and Interior Minister Darmanin travelled to the scene of the attack that afternoon. Attal condemned the act as being motivated by anti-Semitism. “We can assume that we have escaped an absolute drama,” said the Prime Minister.
According to initial findings, the perpetrator was very determined, Attal explained. If the synagogue had been full at the time of the attack and people had come outside, there would probably have been deaths, Attal said. The act was outrageous. The Prime Minister also referred to the increasing number of anti-Semitic attacks in France.
President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: “The fight against anti-Semitism is an ongoing fight, the fight of the united nation.” In response to the attack, France increased the presence of security forces in front of Jewish places of worship in the country.
According to the chairman of the umbrella organization of Jewish organizations in France, Yonathan Arfi, the explosion occurred at a time when believers were expected to arrive at the synagogue. It was not just an attack on a place of worship, but an attempt to kill Jews.
2024-08-25 00:29:50