French police have arrested a man suspected of trying to set a synagogue on fire in the city of La Grande-Motte, southern France.
Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin announced on the social media platform X that the suspect had been arrested on Saturday night.
The antiterrorism prosecutor’s office, which was in charge of the investigation, said early on Sunday that the suspect had been arrested in Nimes, southern France.
“Before the police could intervene, [the suspect] opened fire on the [police], which returned fire. The man was wounded in the face,” the office said in a statement, adding that two other people were taken into custody.
French media reports, citing sources close to the investigation, said the suspect was a 33-year-old Algerian; however local police declined to confirm or give details.
Police reported on Saturday that the suspect had set fire to two cars, one of which contained at least one gas bottle in the synagogue’s car park.
The gas bottle exploded and a police officer who rushed to the scene after the fires started was injured.
Two fires were also started at the entrance of the synagogue, damaging two doors, but were quickly put out, investigators said.
There was no religious service at the time because it occurred during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest that runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.
A rabbi and four other people were inside the synagogue during the time of the incident but were unharmed.
France’s interim Prime Minister Gabriel Attal visited the synagogue on Saturday and said they had “narrowly avoided an absolute tragedy”.
“Once more, French Jews have been targeted and attacked as a result of their beliefs,” Attal said.
“If the synagogue had been filled with worshippers … there probably would have been human victims.”
Earlier in August, Darmanin said the government had counted 887 anti-Semitic acts in the country in 2024, almost tripling in one year.
Following the attack, the government announced that police protection of synagogues, Jewish schools and shops would be stepped up across France.
