French police shoot man trying to burn down a synagogue
Man armed with knife and iron attempted to burn down a synagogue in the north-western French city of Rouen
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
French police have shot dead an armed suspect who attempted to burn down a synagogue in the north-western city of Rouen.
Reports said the man was armed with a knife and an iron bar and when he went towards the police, an officer shot him.
Police were called at around 06:45 (04:45 GMT) after smoke was seen rising from the synagogue, according to local reports.
Firefighters at the scene eventually brought the fire under control inside the synagogue.
There appeared to be no victims other than the armed man, the mayor said.
Damage inside the synagogue has been described as significant.
“I’m really upset, it’s catastrophic,” said the head of Rouen’s Jewish community, Natacha Ben Haïm.
A petrol bomb had been thrown through a small window, setting the synagogue alight, she said.
The walls and furniture were left blackened by the fire.
The president of France’s Consistoire Central Jewish worshippers body Elie Korchia added police “avoided another antisemitic tragedy.”
The local public prosecutor said two investigations were under way – into the arson attack on a place of worship and into the death of the man outside the building.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin praised police “for their responsiveness and courage “.
France has seen a surge in antisemitism since Hamas attacked southern Israel last October leading to the current war in Gaza.
Earlier this week a memorial in Paris that honours 3,900 men and women who helped rescue Jews during the Nazi occupation of France in World War Two was daubed with red-painted hands.
President Emmanuel Macron said defacing the wall undermined the memory of France’s heroes and its victims of the Holocaust.
France has the third largest Jewish community in the world, after Israel and the US.
The head of France’s Council of Jewish Institutions (Crif), Yonathan Arfi, said that “setting a synagogue on fire – that’s intending to intimidate every Jew”.
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