The attacker targeted an officer securing the ceremony for the re-lighting of the eternal flame in honor of unknown soldiers at the Napoleon-era monument, a police official in Paris said. Another officer shot the attacker, who was hospitalized, the official said.
No bystanders or police officers were injured in the incident, the official told The Associated Press. France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said it is investigating the case and has sent an investigator to the scene.
French newspaper The Parisian said a person attacked one of the officers with a knife “for an unspecified reason,” according to a source close to the investigation. It happened around 6 p.m. on Friday when three members of the mobile gendarmerie were at the Arc de Triomphe for the ceremony to rekindle the flame of the Unknown Soldier, the newspaper also reported.
The alleged attacker was “neutralized” and taken to hospital in critical condition. The assaulted officers suffered minor injuries. The Charles-de-Gaulle-Etoile station, located on metro lines 1 and 6 and RER line A.
The National Anti-Terrorist Public Prosecution Service (PNAT) has taken over the investigation, local media report.
The Arc de Triomphe is one of Paris’s most famous landmarks and sits atop the busy Champs-Elysées.
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