French police officer hurt in suspected terror attack at synagogue

A blazing car exploded in the car park of Beth Yaacov synagogue in the coastal town of La Grande-Motte

Police are investigating an explosion outside a synagogue in La Grande-Motte, in the south of France. AFP

A French police officer was injured on Saturday when a blazing car exploded outside a synagogue in what is being treated as a terror attack.

President Emmanuel Macron said the synagogue attack was a “terrorist act” and assured that ”everything is being done to find (its) perpetrator."

“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle," Mr Macron said on X.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called the incident, which happened in the car park of Beth Yaacov synagogue in the coastal town of La Grande-Motte, “an obviously criminal act”.

He said on X that police were looking for those responsible and were treating the incident as attempted arson.

“An attempted arson attack, clearly criminal, hit the synagogue of La Grande Motte this morning,” he said.

“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens and the municipality of my full support and say that at the request of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, all means are being mobilised to find the perpetrator.”

He said there would be an increased police presence outside Jewish sites in France following the explosion.

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

Mr Darmanin and Mr Attal were due to travel to the site of the explosion on Saturday.

At least two cars had been set on fire in the synagogue's car park, one of which contained at least one gas canister.

Two doors of the synagogue were damaged in the blast.

“A car exploded in front of the synagogue in @lagrandemotte. A local police official was injured,” William Maury, of police union Alliance Police Nationale, said on X.

He told BFM TV the police officer's life was not in danger.

There was no religious service ongoing at the time of the incident, a police source said.

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

Mr 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.

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.”