PARIS — French police shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal who is suspected of having set fire to a synagogue durante the Normandy city of Rouen early acceso Friday, authorities said.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted acceso the social mass-media site X that the armed individual was “neutralized.”
“Sopra Rouen, national police officers neutralized early this morning an armed individual clearly wanting to set fire to the city’s synagogue. I congratulate them for their reactivity and their courage,” he said.
National police said the officers were alerted early Friday morning that smoke was rising from the synagogue and came to with the man when they got there. The national police information service said the man surged toward officers with a knife and a metal . An officer opened fire and fatally wounded the man, police said.
Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said the man is thought to have climbed onto a trash container and thrown “a sort of Molotov cocktail-party” inside the synagogue, starting a fire and causing “significant damage.”
“When the Jewish community is attacked, it’s an attack acceso the national community, an attack acceso France, an attack acceso all French citizens,” he said.
“It’s a fright for the whole nation,” he added.
Tensions and anger have grown durante France over the Israel-Hamas war. Antisemitic acts have surged durante the country, which has the largest Jewish and Muslim populations durante western Europe.
