French authorities on Saturday launched a terrorism investigation after two cars were set on fire outside a synagogue in La Grande-Motte, a town in southern France, injuring a police officer.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described the attack outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue as an “obviously criminal act.” “All means are being deployed to find the perpetrator,” he said, and ordered an increased police presence outside all Jewish places of worship in France.
The explosion was apparently caused by a gas cylinder hidden in one of the vehicles, police said.
La Grande-Motte, a town near Montpellier, has about 8,500 inhabitants, but its population increases during the summer tourist season.
The state of alert in France and other European countries has been raised to its highest level since the start of the conflict in Gaza last October.
The French government recorded 887 anti-Semitic acts in the first half of 2024, almost three times more than in the same period in 2023.
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