PARIS—A man armed with a hammer shouted “this is for Syria” before attacking police officers on Tuesday outside France’s Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the interior minister said.
The assailant wounded one officer before he was shot and wounded by other officers. The Paris prosecutor’s office swiftly began a counter-terrorism investigation.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the attacker was carrying the identification card of an Algerian student. He said preliminary information indicated the attacker had acted alone.
Dozens of armed police sealed off the area and the cathedral in central Paris that is visited by millions of tourists every year was locked down while the security forces secured the area.
It is the first attack since President Emmanuel Macron won last month’s election and comes days before a parliamentary poll in which opinion surveys show Macron on course to win a landslide majority. His rivals portrayed him as weak on security during the presidential campaign.
