Six people were stabbed today by a man, who was immediately overpowered by police, at a train station in Paris, according to a new statement from the French police and prosecutors, quoted by the AFP news agency.
According to authorities, the six people stabbed suffered minor injuries. The attacker was shot by police and, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, is “between life and death” in hospital.
The French authorities’ previous statement indicated five injured.
The incident occurred at 06:45 (05:45 in Lisbon) at the Gare du Nord, a major train station in the French capital, at a busy time of day.
There is no evidence to suggest a terrorist attack, according to a source quoted by AFP, who said that this hypothesis “is not privileged”.
The French prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation entrusted to the criminal brigade of the Paris judicial police.
The Gare du Nord is the leading station in Europe and the third in the world in terms of traffic, as it receives 700,000 people a day and more than 220 million passengers a year.
Departing trains serve northern France, but also international destinations such as London via Eurostar, or Belgium and the Netherlands via Thalys.
For some reason that has yet to be determined, the man injured several people with a stabbing weapon. The police officers subdued him with recourse to their weapons, the same source added. The attacker was treated at the scene by emergency services before being hospitalised, according to the prosecutor’s office.
State railway company SNCF indicated that the injured were removed from the station soon after emergency services arrived at the scene of the attack. According to French newspaper Le Figaro, one officer was injured.
A security perimeter was immediately deployed at the site of the attack.
An announcement was broadcast warning travellers about train delays.
“The station continues to operate normally, with no interruption to traffic,” an SNCF spokesman commented to AFP.
Police officers installed large white cloths over the stairs leading to Eurostar trains to hide the view from travellers.
“Thank you to the police for their brave and effective reaction,” Gérald Darmanin said on social network Twitter.
Gérald Darmanin was at the scene of the incident at around 09:00 (08:00 in Lisbon), surrounded by a substantial security apparatus, to “thank the security forces” along with Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, prosecutor Laure Beccuau, and the mayor of the French capital, Anne Hidalgo.
*with Lusa
