The attacker was turned away by the Yavne School security, made up of parents who serve as security on a volunteer basis, the Jewish Agency noted. The institution was immediately locked down with the students inside to ensure their safety. A police patrol car has been set up in front of the school building.French police forces were alerted immediately, and instructed Jewish sites throughout the city to tighten security in light of the attempted attack.After turned away from the school, the attacker tried to stab Jewish shoppers at a kosher supermarket in the city, where he was once again prevented from attacking anyone by the same security personnel."While the coronavirus has silenced the world in many ways, it has not silenced antisemitism, or the resulting danger for Jews," said Chairman of the Jewish Agency Isaac Herzog."The attack in Marseille today is a red flag that shoudl alert us to the antisemitism that is happening below the radar, and is simply waiting to break free once the movement restrictions of the pandemic come to an end," he warned.Marseille has seen antisemitic attacks before. In 2017, a man with Tunisian citizenship stabbed two women to death at a train station.And, in 2016, merely two days after the one-year anniversary of the January 2015 attack at a kosher supermarket in Paris, a Jewish man was attacked outside a synagogue by a French minor wielding a machete.The man was lightly injured, and his assailant was arrested 10 minutes after the attack.#Marseille Interpellation de l'assaillant armé de l'école juive et l'épicer cacher pic.twitter.com/oNGJTiGvMy
— Pierre Sautarel (@FrDesouche) March 5, 2021
French police prevent stabbing attack at Jewish school in Marseille
Initial reports indicate the perpetrator attempted to enter the school before attempting to stab shoppers at a kosher supermarket.
