Suspect arrested in arson attack targeting synagogue in France: "The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle"
French police apprehended and detained the suspect behind the arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town that injured a police officer, the country's acting interior minister said early Sunday.
Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte near Montpellier were set ablaze just after 8 a.m. local time on Saturday, the National Anti-terrorism Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank in one of the vehicles exploded, the prosecutor's statement said.
Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, it added.
"The alleged perpetrator of the arson attack on the synagogue has been arrested," Gerald Darmanin, the acting interior minister, said in a post on social media. He visited the site on Saturday afternoon along with acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and met with local officials and the synagogue staff.
Darmanin also hailed the "professional conduct" of police forces and its elite intervention unit "despite the gunfire" during the operation. He did not provide further information.
Prosecutors were investigating the attack as an attempted assassination linked to a terrorist group and destruction of property with dangerous means, and a crime planned by a terrorist group with an intent to cause harm, the statement said.
After the attack Saturday, Darmanin ordered police reinforcement to protect Jewish places of worship following what was "clearly a criminal act." Increased protection has already been in place at some sites following a surge of antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last year.
"I was very shocked. The noise I heard was louder than anything I've ever heard in my life," local resident Karam Paquin, 52, told Reuters. "Since I've been in La Grande-Motte, it's been over 25 years, so it was a big shock."
She added: "I often pass by this street, because I work not far away, so I walk by or I often pass by this street, but it's true that today I was lucky as it's a Saturday when I'm not working. I could have been injured or even died."
French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack a "terrorist attack." French media said that a suspect had been seen on CCTV cameras shortly before the attack, with a Palestinian flag tied around their waist, Reuters reported.
"The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle," Macron said on social media.
Acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called the attack "an act of antisemitism."
"Once again our Jewish fellow citizens are being targeted," Attal said in a post on social media. "Faced with antisemitism, faced with violence, we will never let ourselves be intimidated."