[1/4]French police secure access to the Bir Hakeim Bridge following a security incident in Paris, France, December 2, 2023. Portal/Stephanie Lecocq LICENSES
PARIS, Dec 2 (Portal) – One person died and another was injured after an attacker attacked passers-by in central Paris near the Eiffel Tower, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on social media on Saturday.
“Police have just bravely arrested an attacker who attacked passers-by around the Quai de Grenelle in Paris. One deceased and one injured person were treated by the Paris fire department. Please avoid the area,” the minister previously posted on the social media platform X known as Twitter.
AFP, citing a source, said the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest), but Portal could not confirm this.
The anti-terrorism public prosecutor’s office said it had not yet been assigned any investigations.
“The attacker was neutralized very quickly by the police. We tried to save this man’s life. “It is a man who died and they (the people who were attacked) were tourists,” Dr. Patrick Pelloux told BFM TV.
BFM said, citing police, that the deceased was a German citizen and that the attacker’s weapon was a hammer.
Saturday night’s incident in central Paris came less than eight months before the Olympics in the French capital and could raise questions about security at the global sporting event.
Paris is planning an unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine that could attract up to 600,000 spectators.
Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Gilles Guillaume in Paris. Editing by Nick Zieminski and Matthew Lewis
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