Officials say French synagogue interior seriously damaged in arson attack

A synagogue that was targeted in an arson attack early this morning in Rouen, France, suffered extensive damage from the fire, but no one else was harmed, says city Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.

Mayer-Rossignol says the Normandy town is “battered and shocked” by the incident, adding that “an armed man somehow climbed up the synagogue and threw an object, a sort of molotov cocktail, into the main praying room.”

The synagogue’s rabbi, Chmouel Lubecki, says his wife was there at the time of the attack.

“We had a great fright,” he says. His wife “heard gunshots and screams… and then she saw smoke coming from the synagogue, so she immediately went down, she helped the firefighters get in the synagogue.”

“We expected [attacks], unfortunately,” he says, because of a rise in antisemitism. “We had this fear inside of us, but when it actually happens, it’s still shocking.”

Natacha Ben Haim, president of Normandy’s Jewish community says the walls, and a lot of the furniture, are blackened by the fire and smoke.

“It’s catastrophic. Yes, I’m upset, I’m very upset,” she tells reporters.