ROUEN. French police have shot dead an armed man who apparently tried to set fire to a synagogue in the northern French city of Rouen. The officials were reportedly informed of “smoke development near the synagogue.” At the crime scene they met a man who had armed himself with a knife and an iron bar, police report World.
When the suspected killer approached the police, they shot him several times. The fire was then brought under control by the fire brigade, a representative of the city government said.
The city’s mayor, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, wrote on the social network X that “it is not only the Israeli community that is affected. The entire city of Rouen is injured and shocked.” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin issued a brief statement: “In Rouen, police officers neutralized an armed man who was clearly trying to set fire to the municipal synagogue. I congratulate them on their speed and courage.”
A passage of this aggression and this cautious incension of the synagogue @Rouen, it is not that it affects the Israeli community the most. C’est toute la ville de @Rouen This is food and sous le choc.
— Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol (@NicolasMayerNMR) May 17, 2024
The motive and identity of the attacker are still unclear
The identity and specific motive of the attacker are currently unclear. The Rouen Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened two investigations. On the one hand, arson and acts of violence against officials are being investigated, and on the other hand, the circumstances of the suspect’s death will be investigated, says prosecutor Frédéric Teillet.
In France, there have been repeated attacks on Jewish communities and individuals in recent years. Many had an Islamic background. In March 2018, the 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll murdered in her Paris apartmentIn 2021, two Algerians were convicted of the crime.
Several anti-Semitic attacks in recent years
A year earlier, in April 2017, a 65-year-old Jewish woman was murdered in her Paris apartment. The perpetrator, an immigrant from Mali, severely assaulted her and then threw her out of the window. During the trial against the perpetrator it became known that he had acted from anti-Semitic motives.
In March 2012 A member of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda attacked a Jewish school in the city of Toulouse and shot four people. In recent days he had arranged to meet three French soldiers and murdered them during the meetings. The perpetrator, a 23-year-old Algerian, later died during a shootout with police. (lb)