Damage inside Normandy synagogue after man threw Molotov cocktail through window

French police shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar who is suspected of having started a fire that charred and blackened the insides of a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen early on Friday 17 May.

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the attack was “clearly” antisemitic, while it infuriated Jewish leaders facing a surge in hate crimes since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

The suspected arsonist was an Algerian national who wasn’t flagged as a suspected extremist, Mr Darmanin said after inspecting the fire-damaged synagogue.

Footage from inside the synagogue shows the window through which the Molotov Cocktail was thrown.