According to French media, the man threatened some police officers with a knife around 1 p.m. and shouted “Allahu Akbar”. Fortunately there were no injuries. The officers were able to taser the man and arrest him. He was subsequently interrogated and placed in pre-trial detention.
The Reims public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the incident. Little is known about the perpetrator, except that he is known to the police. After the incident, investigators completely combed the area around the police station. The mine clearance service also searched the perpetrator’s car, but the search turned up nothing.
France announced its highest threat level just over a week ago after a radicalized youth killed a high school teacher in the northern city of Arras. Several incidents have occurred since then. For example, the Palace of Versailles had to be evacuated on Sunday for the seventh time in eight days after a bomb threat. For the same reason, several airports across the country had to be evacuated last week.