France: The police killed the attacker who tried to set fire to the synagogue

An armed man, who wanted to set fire to a synagogue in Rouen, a city in the north-west of France, was killed by members of the French police, announced Minister of the Interior of that country, Gérald Darmanin.

The attacker was carrying a knife and was shot as he approached the officers, according to reports. The attack on the synagogue does not only affect the Jewish community, but the whole city is "under attack and in shock", says Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the mayor of Rouen.

Police received an emergency call at 6:45 a.m. local time as smoke began to rise above the synagogue, according to local media.

When they went to the scene of the crime, one of the policemen shot a man armed with a knife and a metal bar.

The mayor also says that firefighters are on the ground, trying to bring the fire in the synagogue under control. It is believed that there are no victims of the attack, he added.

Minister Gérald Darmanin praised the police for their "quick reaction and courage".

In France, as in other Western European countries, there has been a rise in anti-Semitism since the Gaza war began, which triggered the Hamas attack on southern Israel in October.

This week, a monument in Paris, built in honor of the 3,900 men and women who helped save Jews during the Nazi occupation in World War II, was also desecrated, with the perpetrators painting their hands red on the sculptures.

President Emmanuel Macron said that the destruction of that wall is actually undermining the memory of French heroes and victims of the Holocaust.