A police officer has been critically injured in a stabbing attack in Paris just over a week before the 2024 Olympics start in the city.
The attack occurred on the city’s famous Champs Elysee after a security guard at a boutique called police after spotting a man who appeared to be carrying a knife, the Paris police chief said.
The attacker was also critically injured, the police chief, Laurent Nunez, told reporters.
France is on its highest state of security alert as it gears up to host millions of visitors, athletes and world leaders during the Paris Olympic Summer Games, due to kick off on July 26.
Paris police called on people to avoid the Champs Elysees area.
A police officer has been critically injured in a stabbing attack in Paris just over a week before the 2024 Olympics start in the city. The attack occurred on the city’s famous Champs Elysee
The attack has occurred just over a week before the city hosts 2024 Olympics. The opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympics in Paris is due to take place on Friday July 26 with over 10,000 athletes from across the world descending on the French capital
Television footage showed armed police condoning off the famous avenue.
Investigating sources said the officer was seriously injured ‘in an eye,’ but his condition was not life threatening.
French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin tweeted soon afterwards: ‘A police officer was the victim of an attack in the 8th arrondissement of Paris while he was responding to a call from officers securing a store.
‘The perpetrator was immediately neutralized by police officers. Unwavering support.’
A large security perimeter was soon deployed in the area, which included much of the Champs Elysee.
The opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympics in Paris is due to take place on Friday July 26 with over 10,000 athletes from across the world descending on the French capital for the games.
The attack was the latest in a string of unrelated security incidents in the French capital this week.
On Monday, a notoriously violent psychiatric patient responsible for a savage knife murder in 2018 tried to to stab a soldier to death at one of the busiest railway stations in Paris.
The case of Christian Ingondo – a self-styled Christian – caused outrage across France, as the country prepares to host the sporting extravaganza.
Ingondo, 40, was apparently easily able to track a military patrol on Operation Sentinelle anti-terrorism duties before repeatedly stabbing an infrantryman in the upper back while shouting ‘God is great’.
Hundreds of rail passengers watched onslaught in horror, before Ingondo was pulled to the ground by other soldiers and arrested.
His victim – who has not been named – was rushed to an intensive care unit and his latest medical condition is ‘stable’.
It was in 2018 that – less than two miles away from Gare de l’Est – Ingondo, a Frenchman born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killed Andy Brigitte, 22.
The bloodbath unfolded on a platform at the Châtelet-Les Halles station, where Mr Brigitte was waiting for a train.
He too was repeatedly stabbed in the upper body, before being declared dead at the scene by emergency workers.
France is on its highest state of security alert as it gears up to host millions of visitors, athletes and world leaders during the Paris Olympic Summer Games
A medical report concluded that Ingondo was suffering from a ‘probable schizophrenic illness that had been progressive for several years without medical care until now.’
An investigation has now been opened into ‘attempted murder’ in connection with the Gare de l’Est attack.
French MEP Matthieu Valet led a chorus of outrage, posting on Twitter X: ‘All my support for this soldier fro the Sentinel operation attacked with a kinfe at Gare de l’Est in Paris, who escaped death.
‘This assailant with a heavy psychological profile was interned for having stabbed to death an innocent 22-year-old victim in 2019. What was he doing on the loose?’
It follows a series of bomb, gun and knife attacks carried out by Islamic State and al-Qaeda operatives over the past decade.
The deadliest single terrorist attack ever in France came in November 2015 when 130 people were killed during one night in Paris.
Suicide bombers pledging allegiance to ISIS targeted the Stade de France, cafés, restaurants and the Bataclan music venue, where 90 died.
Earlier in the year, two Paris-born gunmen linked to Al-Qaeda broke into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, leaving 17 people dead inside and three outside.
In July 2016, 86 people were called and more than 400 injured when a 19 tonne truck was deliberately driven into crowds on the seafront promenade at Nice, on the Mediterranean coast.
And, in October 2020, three people were stabbed to death by a Tunisian immigrant in the Notre Dame basilica in Nice.
There have also been frequent knife attacks on the forces of law and order, leading to the deaths of serving police.
Terrorists have also targetted teachers, such as Samuel Paty, who was decapitated in the greater Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in 2020.