A police officer has been wounded in a knife attack in the Champs-Élysées neighbourhood of Paris with the assailant immediately ‘neutralized’, according to authorities.
The attack comes with the French capital already on high security alert just days before the July 26 opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the attack happened in the 8th arrondissement while police were «responding to a call from officers securing a store.»
«The perpetrator was immediately neutralized by police officers,» he said in a statement posted on X.
An official with knowledge of the case said the assailant was still alive and that officers prevented him from taking further action.
Thursday’s knife attack comes just days after a man stabbed and wounded a French soldier patrolling Paris on Monday outside the Gare de l’Est train station in eastern Paris. Prosecutors said that man was taken to a psychiatric hospital.
Darmanin is staying on in a caretaker role at the interior ministry until a new government is formed following inconclusive legislative elections earlier this month.
