Saturday, February 3, 2024
A man has been arrested after three people were stabbed at the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris. The Gare de Lyon is one of six mainline railway stations in Paris.
Reports suggested the alleged attacker was first tackled by passengers.
A security agent at the Gare de Lyon just before 8am on Saturday, before officers arrived at the scene.
Police said early indications suggested the attack was not terrorism-related.
The three victims, who were in the station’s lower level hall number three, sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Two were taken to hospital, where one was said to have a serious wound.
French media reported that the arrested man, who was allegedly carrying a knife and a hammer, was originally from Mali and had shown police an Italian driving licence during his arrest.
Le Figaro said the man, 32, had tried to set fire to his backpack before police arrived. The paper quoted a police source saying he appeared to have “psychological difficulties”.
“The profile is of someone who is a mix of homeless person and person with psychiatric troubles,” a police source told the paper.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, wrote on social media: “This morning at the Gare de Lyon an individual injured three people with a knife before being arrested. One person is seriously injured; two others suffered less serious injuries. They were treated by the emergency services. Thank you to those who restrained the perpetrator of this unacceptable act.”
Police have opened an official investigation into the attack.
There have been several knife attacks in the French capital in the past year.
In December a 26-year-old French man stabbed a German tourist to death near the Eiffel Tower.
Darmanin said at the time there had been a “failure” in the suspect’s psychiatric treatment.
In January last year, six people were injured in a knife attack at the Gare du Nord in Paris. The attacker was shot three times by police.
The Gare de Lyon serves national trains to the south-east of France and international links to Switzerland, Italy and Spain.
It is also a hub for suburban train services and the Paris Metro.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
