French police have been ordered to step up security around Jewish places of worship, schools and centres across the country after a police officer was injured in an explosion outside a synagogue.
The incident in La Grande-Motte, a Mediterranean resort east of Montpellier, is being investigated by France’s specialist antiterrorism prosecutor.
Two cars, one of which is believed to have contained a bottle of gas, parked in front of the Beth Yaacov synagogue, were set alight outside at about 8.30am on Saturday. Two doors at the building were also set alight, according to police.
Police officers, who have opened an inquiry into “attempted murder linked to a terrorist organisation”, are trying to identify an individual captured on CCTV walking away from the vehicles minutes before the explosion.
The acting prime minister, Gabriel Attal, and the acting interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, were travelling to the scene on Saturday afternoon.
Darmanin said the fire was “an obviously criminal act”.
He wrote on X: “I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens and the local community 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.”.
In a letter to the country’s prefects, who are local government officials, the minister called for “immediate reinforced protection” around Jewish places of worship and for “absolute vigilance” and protection for those entering and leaving synagogues and Jewish schools.
Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (Crif), said: “Exploding a gas canister in a car outside the synagogue in La Grande-Motte at a time when worshippers were due to arrive is not just an attack on a place of worship, it is an attempt to kill Jews.”
The police officer was taken to Montpellier hospital with injuries linked to the blast. A police spokesperson said his life was not in danger.
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Five people inside the synagogue at the time of the explosion and fires, including the rabbi, escaped injury.
There has been a surge in antisemitic acts in France since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Darmanin told journalists earlier this month the number of reported acts had almost tripled since the start of 2024, with 887 incidents compared with 304 during the same period last year. In 2023 there were 1,676 reported antisemitic incidents, four times more than the previous year, the minister said.