ROUEN, France, May 17, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - French police on Friday shot dead a
man armed with a knife and a crowbar who tried to set fire to a synagogue in
the northern city of Rouen, adding to concerns over anti-Semitic violence in
the country.

The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months
been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of
memorials.

Emergency services were alerted after a fire was detected at the synagogue,
with the man spotted on its roof brandishing an iron bar and a kitchen knife,
the prosecutor handling the case said.

Smoke was coming out of one window at the synagogue, Rouen prosecutor
Frederic Teillet told reporters.

The attacker ran towards one police officer threatening him with a knife. The
officer then "shot him five times, hitting him four times", the prosecutor
said. The man died at the scene.

The attacker, who has not been identified, was subject to an order to be
expelled from France but it had not been carried out because of an appeal, a
source close to the case said.

"National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual
who clearly wanted to set fire to the city's synagogue," Interior Minister
Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city
of Rouen that is bruised and in shock," Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol
wrote on X, calling for a solidarity rally at the town hall in the evening.

"Tonight is the beginning of the Sabbath and it's important to light the
candles to show that we are not afraid," Rouen's chief Rabbi Chmouel Lubecki
told reporters.

- 'Body in the street' -

The synagogue is in the historic centre of the city, the main city of the
northern region of Normandy that lies on the River Seine.

A resident, Elias Morisse, who lives opposite the synagogue, said he heard
gunshots and explosions.

"I decided to open the shutters of my apartment, and indeed I saw smoke
coming from the synagogue, the police, the firefighters and in the street a
body -- that of the attacker who was shot," he said.

Separate investigations into the fire at the synagogue and into the
circumstances of the death of the man have been opened, prosecutors said.

France's police inspectorate opens an investigation whenever an individual is
killed by the police.

Teillet said the policeman had been detained for questioning but added that
after seeing footage of the incident he believed the use of a weapon was in
line with the law and that he would be released later.

- Increasing attacks -

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the
United States, as well as Europe's largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France since the October 7 attack by Palestinian
militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by Israel's assault on the Gaza
Strip.

Red graffiti was painted onto France's Holocaust Memorial this week,
prompting anger, including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned
"odious anti-Semitism".

"Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once
again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our
country," Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish
Institutions of France (CRIF) wrote on X.

Since 2015, France has seen a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish
targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France's
security alert remains at its highest level.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced this month that 366 anti-Semitic
incidents had been recorded in France in the first quarter of 2024, a 300
percent increase compared to the first three months of 2023.

Responding to the apparent synagogue attack will become a new security
challenge for Macron and Attal at the end of a turbulent week.

Police are hunting for a gang who freed a convict and killed two prison
officers in an attack that also took place in Normandy.

Authorities are also grappling with the worst violence in decades in the
French Pacific territory of New Caledonia.