France opens terrorism investigation in arson attack at synagogue
PARIS — French authorities on Saturday opened a terrorism investigation after an arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town. Security forces were searching for a suspect.
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. Saturday, anti-terrorism prosecutors 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 statement said.
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Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, it added.
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.
The mayor of La Grande-Motte, Stéphan Rossignol, said that investigators were reviewing the city’s surveillance videos and that a lone suspect was spotted at the site of the attack.
“We don’t know if the individual has left the city or if he is still in the city,” Rossignol said in an interview with broadcaster France Info. He added: “The individual in question did not manage to get inside the synagogue, even though that was clearly his objective.”
President Emmanuel Macron said the synagogue attack was a “terrorist act” and assured that “everything is being done to find [its] perpetrator.”
“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Macron said on X.
Acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the synagogue was targeted in the “antisemitic attack,” a “shocking and appalling” act of violence.
“Once again, French Jews have been targeted and attacked because of their beliefs,” Attal said after meeting with local officials and the synagogue staff. “We are outraged and repulsed.”
At least 200 police officers and other security personnel have been deployed to apprehend the perpetrator, Attal added.
The assailant who hit the synagogue on the Shabbat morning was “very determined” to cause damage and casualties, Attal said, adding that preliminary evidence collected by investigators shows that “we have narrowly avoided a tragedy.”
Acting Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered more police officers deployed at Jewish places of worship around the country after a surge of antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
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