A police officer was injured Saturday when a burning car exploded in the parking lot of a synagogue in La Grande-Motte, southern France, authorities said, calling the incident a terrorist attack and saying they would step up security at Jewish institutions. Police have begun searching for the suspect and the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office was in charge of the investigation, it said. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. “This is an anti-Semitic attack. Once again, our Jewish compatriots are in the crosshairs,” Attal said on the social network X. “We will not give up. “In the face of anti-Semitism, in the face of violence, we will never let ourselves be intimidated,” he added.
France, like other European countries, has seen an increase anti-Semitic incidents following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 and the Israeli reprisals against Gaza. “We are doing everything possible to find the perpetrator of this terrorist act and to protect places of worship,” said President Emmanuel Macron.
Two cars, one of which contained at least one gas canister, were set on fire in the synagogue's parking lot around 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), local media reported. The Parisian, Franceinfo and other media outlets said a suspect was seen on security cameras shortly before the attack with a Palestinian flag tied around his waist.
Several media outlets reported that the injured police officer's life was not in danger. “The explosion of a gas canister in a car in front of the synagogue in La Grande Motte at the scheduled time of arrival of the faithful: this is not only an attack on a place of worship, it is an attempt to kill Jews,” said Yonathan Arfi, who heads the CRIF, an organization of French Jewish groups, in X.
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