Incendiary attack against the synagogue, the attacker shot down by police

A man sets fire to the synagogue of Rouen, a nineteenth-century building listed as a historic monument. The attacker, seen armed with a knife, is shot by a police officer during the intervention; the sanctuary is severely damaged.

The synagogue of Rouen was one of the rare Norman places of worship inherited from the resettlement of Jewish communities in France after the Revolution; the city also preserves, beneath the courtyard of the courthouse, the remains of an exceptional medieval Jewish house. The fire occurs during a period in which attacks targeting Jewish places of worship have multiplied in France, and it has led to increased surveillance of synagogues in the provinces.