Police and fire brigade stand by a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen where French police have killed earlier an armed man who was trying to set fire to the building. Photograph: Lou Benoist/AFP/Getty Images
Summary of the day
French police have shot dead a man armed with a knife and iron bar who set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen.
Emergency services were alerted after a fire was detected at the synagogue.
Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), said that: “attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating antisemitism means defending the republic.”
The Rouen mayor, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, said there was “significant damage” to the synagogue.
Chmouel Lubecki, a rabbi in Rouen, said today’s incident was “shocking” and that it was “important to light the candles of Shabbat to exactly show that we are not afraid.”
Elie Korchia, president of France’s Consistoire Central Jewish worshippers body, thanked police who had “avoided another anti-Semitic tragedy”.
Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said “he person who set fire to the synagogue in Rouen was not French, he was of Algerian origin.”
The attacker was subject to an order to be expelled from France. But he had made an appeal against the decision, which meant the expulsion was suspended while the appeal was taking place.
Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said the person who set fire to a synagogue in Rouen was not French, Reuters reported.
“The person who set fire to the synagogue in Rouen was not French, he was of Algerian origin,” Darmanin said.
Updated
