France arrests terror suspect over fire attack on synagogue

France’s Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal (L) flanked by France’s Minister for the Interior and Overseas, Gerald Darmanin (C) and French MPs exit the synagogue which was set on fire and were an explosion of cars occurred in La Grande-Motte, south of France, on August 24, 2024. At least two cars, one containing a gas bottle, were set alight on the morning of August 24, 2024, in front of the synagogue in La Grande-Motte, causing an explosion that injured a local policeman, the French gendarmerie and the town’s mayor said. Agence France-Presse

LA GRANDE-MOTTE, France — Police arrested a man suspected of setting fires and causing an explosion at a synagogue in southern France on Saturday in what officials suspect was a terror attack, the country’s interior minister said.

“The suspected perpetrator of the criminal fires at the synagogue has been detained,” minister Gerard Darmanin said on X, adding that officers who made the arrest came under fire.

Police earlier said they were hunting for a man who, draped in a Palestinian flag, was believed to have set fires at a synagogue and triggered an explosion that injured an officer in the seaside resort of La Grande Motte.

READ: 180,000 people across France march against soaring antisemitism amid Israel-Hamas war

An official source who asked not to be named told AFP the arrest took place in the nearby town of Nimes. An official in the state prosecution service added that two people associated with the suspect were also detained.

France’s interim Prime Minister Gabriel Attal earlier visited the site of the attack along with Darmanin and said: “We narrowly avoided an absolute tragedy.”

“Once more, French Jews have been targeted and attacked as a result of their beliefs,” Attal said.

READ: US military raises alert level for Europe bases – reports

“If the synagogue had been filled with worshippers… there probably would have been human victims.”

Security around Jewish sites was tightened following the attack early Saturday at Beth Yaacov synagogue in La Grande Motte, near the city of Montpellier.

Two cars outside the synagogue were set alight, with a gas canister then likely exploding inside one of the vehicles, police said.

Two fires were also started at the entrance of the synagogue, damaging two doors, but were quickly put out, investigators said.

The wounded police officer had been injured by the blast after rushing to the scene after the fires were started, police said.

President Emmanuel Macron called the incident “an act of terror”, adding on X: “The fight against anti-Semitism is a daily fight.”

He said “all means are being deployed” to apprehend the suspect.

La Grande Motte’s mayor, Stephan Rossignol, said that CCTV had picked up images of an individual setting fire to the cars.

In part of the footage, watched and authenticated by AFP, a man is seen with a Palestinian flag draped around his waist, his head covered by a red Palestinian keffiyeh.

The man carried two bottles filled with a yellowish liquid. The footage also seems to show the contours of a handgun.

Sources close to the investigation said the suspect left the scene on foot.

The fires and explosion came amid a heightened state of alert in France and other European countries because of the war in Gaza.

‘Anti-Semitic acts’

Attal said France’s national anti-terror prosecutors had been tasked with investigating the incident.

The premier linked it to a rise in anti-Semitism since Palestinian militant group Hamas triggered the Gaza war with its cross-border attack on Israel last year.

“We are outraged, revolted and scandalised by this, given that anti-Semitic acts have increased dramatically, even more so since 7 October,” he said, referring to the date of the Hamas attack.

The police presence outside Jewish sites in France would be increased following the explosion, Interior Minister Darmanin said.

The blast occurred during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest that runs from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, with many attending synagogue services.

There was, however, no religious service going on at the time of the incident, a police source said. A rabbi and four other people were inside the synagogue, but all were unharmed, investigators said.

The town of La Grande Motte has about 8,500 permanent residents, but the population swells during the summer tourism season.

Darmanin said this month that the government had counted 887 anti-Semitic acts in France in the first half of 2024, nearly three times as many as in the same period in 2023.

France is home to the biggest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States, as well as the largest Muslim community in the European Union.

The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) called the explosion “an attempt to kill Jews”.

The use of a gas canister “in a car at a time when worshippers are expected to arrive at the synagogue is not simply a criminal act”, CRIF president Yonathan Arfi told AFP. “This shows an intention to kill.”