Suspect arrested after arson attack on synagogue in France: “The fight against anti-Semitism is a constant battle”

French police have arrested the suspect behind the arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean city that injured a police officer, the country's acting interior minister said early Sunday.

Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort of La Grande Motte near Montpellier were set on fire shortly after 8 a.m. local time on Saturday, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer walking to the scene was injured when a propane tank exploded in one of the vehicles, the prosecutor's statement said.

Five people, including the rabbi, who were in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, it said.

“The suspected perpetrator of the arson attack on the synagogue has been arrested,” Gerald Darmanin, the acting interior minister, said in a social media post. He visited the site on Saturday afternoon along with acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and met with local officials and synagogue staff.

Darmanin also praised the “professional conduct” of the police forces and their elite intervention force “despite the shootings” during the operation. He did not provide any further information.

The public prosecutor's office is investigating an attempted murder linked to a terrorist organization and damage to property carried out with dangerous means, as well as a crime planned by a terrorist organization with the intention of causing damage, the statement said.

Following Saturday's attack, Darmanin ordered police reinforcements to protect Jewish places of worship after what he said was “clearly a criminal act.” Increased security measures have already been put in place in some places following a rise in anti-Semitism since the protests began. War between Israel and Hamas last year.

“I was very shocked. The noise I heard was louder than anything I've ever heard in my life,” 52-year-old local resident Karam Paquin told Reuters. “It's been over 25 years since I've been in La Grande-Motte, so it was a big shock.”

She added: “I often walk past this street because I work very close by. So I often walk past this street or walk past it. But today I was lucky because it's Saturday and I'm not working. I could have been injured or even died.”

French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack a “terrorist attack.” French media reported that shortly before the attack, a suspect was seen on surveillance cameras with a Palestinian flag around his waist, Reuters reported.

“The fight against anti-Semitism is a constant battle,” Macron said on social media.

Acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal described the attack as “an act of anti-Semitism.”

“Once again, our Jewish fellow citizens are being targeted,” Attal said in a social media post. “In the face of anti-Semitism and violence, we will never be intimidated.”