MONTPELLIER: 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 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”.

Policeman injured; security tightened around Jewish sites

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.

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

The potential suspect seen in the footage was brandishing a Palestinian flag, a source close to the probe added.

Another source said that the man was carrying two empty bottles and had a Palestinian flag draped around his waist as left the scene on foot.

One of the images also appeared to show him to be armed, possibly with a 9mm pistol, the source added.

‘Obviously criminal act’

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

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.

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 ongoing at the time of the incident, a police source said. A rabbi and four other people were inside the synagogue at the time but all were unharmed, investigators said.

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.

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 said. “This shows an intention to kill.”

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2024