Photo Credit:Peter Allen
A man has been shot dead by the French police after a synagogue was set on fire in the north-western city of Rouen.The man was armed with a knife and a metallic tool and was shot after he threatened officers, the Rouen prosecutor said.
Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said the attack on the synagogue did not just affect the Jewish community, but the entire city was battered and in shock.
French reports say the suspect was Algerian and was appealing against an order to leave France.
Police were called after smoke was seen rising from the synagogue. The attacker climbed on a large waste bin and threw a petrol bomb through a small window, setting the synagogue alight.
Two police officers reached the scene fast, after the man was spotted on security cameras. The suspect was on the roof of the synagogue when they arrived, according to prosecutors. After threatening the pair he then threw a chisel at them before jumping down to the ground, brandishing a knife.
The officer opened fire five times, hitting the individual four times, said Rouen public prosecutor Frédéric Teillet, explaining that he had seen the footage on the security cameras.
Firefighters at the scene eventually brought the fire under control inside the synagogue in the historic center of the city. 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 catastrophic, said the head of Rouen Jewish community, Natacha Benhaïm.
The walls and furniture had been left blackened by the fire, although the Torah scrolls, the holy books, did not come to any harm.
Mr Teillet said two investigations were under way - into an arson attack on a place of worship and into the use of a police weapon outside the building.
Although the officer was currently in custody, the prosecutor said that video footage indicated he had used his gun "according to conditions allowed by the internal security code.
Little is known about the suspected attacker, who was not carrying any form of identity at the time. French media report that he was a 29-year-old Algerian who was in the process of appealing against an expulsion order from French authorities.
France, in common with the rest of Western Europe, has seen a surge in antisemitism since Hamas attacked southern Israel last October leading to the current war in Gaza.
