France opens terror probe after blast near synagogue

Law enforcement officers stand in front of a synagogue following the fire and explosion of cars in La Grande-Motte, south of France, on 24 August 2024. (Pascal Guyot/AFP)

• A police officer was left injured following an explosion outside a synagogue in southern France.
• A source claimed that the potential suspect was seen in CCTV footage brandishing a Palestinian flag.
• A French minister said that the government had counted 887 anti-Semitic acts in France in the first half of 2024.

An explosion outside a synagogue in southern France wounded a police officer early on Saturday, in what authorities said was being treated as a potential terror attack.

Security around Jewish sites was tightened following the early Saturday blast outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the seaside resort of La Grande Motte, near the city of Montpellier.

A fire was also started at the entrance of the synagogue, but was quickly put out, with two doors damaged, investigators said.

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

Two cars outside the synagogue burst into flames after a gas canister likely exploded inside one of the vehicles, police said. The blast wounded a police officer, police said, without providing any other details.

WATCH | 2 500 police trainees evacuated following gas pipeline explosion in Tshwane

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

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

‘Anti-Semitic act’

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said France’s national anti-terror prosecutors had been tasked with probing the incident.

“La Grande Motte’s synagogue was the target of an attack this morning,” Attal said in a post on X. “An anti-Semitic act. Once again, our Jewish fellow citizens are being targeted.”

Earlier, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called the incident “an obviously criminal act”.

He said, “All means are being deployed to find the perpetrator”.

The police presence outside Jewish sites in France would be increased following the explosion, the minister added. Darmanin and Attal were to travel to the site of the explosion later on Saturday.

ALSO READ | Daring daylight robbery: Cash van bombed in Kagiso, suspects flee with cash

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 no immediate information about the gravity of the police officer’s injuries.

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

READ more | Car bomb kills nine outside restaurant in Somalia’s capital during Euro 2024 final

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, and also to 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.”