As the departing Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported on his X account, two vehicles were set on fire outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the Allée André Malraux in La Grande-Motte (Hérault) at around 8.30 this morning. A gas cylinder is also said to have exploded and the doors of the building were set on fire. The fire brigade and the gendarmerie quickly intervened. One police officer was injured in the incident. The emergency brigade in Lunel (Hérault) is in charge of the investigation.
Two cars parked in front of the church were on fire at the scene. A gas cylinder is said to have been in one of the vehicles. Two doors of the synagogue were also on fire. According to BFMTV, CCTV images showed that a suspicious person left the premises shortly before the fire broke out.
‘The suspect is an Arab man with a Palestinian flag tied around his waist and a handgun on his belt,’ a source from the domestic intelligence service told Valeurs actuelles. The Sous Direction Antiterroriste (Sdat) and the Parquet National Antiterroriste (Pnat) are called in.
A municipal policeman who was on duty to set up a security device was injured after an explosion, the cause of which is still unknown. The mayor of La Grande-Motte, Stéphane Rossignol, and the prefect of the department, François-Xavier Lauch, also went to the crime scene. ‘I have instructed the police and the gendarmerie to reinforce the security of Jewish institutions and sites in the department,’ the prefect assured them.