“I saw a plume of smoke and flames above my head,” says police officer injured in synagogue fire

Le parking où les véhicules ont brûlé à La Grande-Motte. MAXPPP – SEBASTIEN NOGIER

Ce Vauverdois âgé de 37 ans est arrivé le premier à la synagogue de La Grande-Motte, victime d’une attaque antisémite, ce samedi 24 août aux alentours de 8 h 30. Il témoigne…

“When the detonation sounded, a piece of the barbecue fell at my feet while I was about fifty meters from the synagogue”, confided Jean-Michel Weiss, the director of the municipal police of La Grande-Motte, who was among the first to arrive on site, this Saturday, August 24.

“I instinctively turned around and saw something fall to the ground behind the boundary wall. In my mind, it was the hood of a car that had flown off.”

But in hearing the screams and approaching the victim to help him, he quickly realized that it was one of his men.

I had just found some plastic bottles with a bit of gasoline inside

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The lad, aged 37 years old, was literally blown away by the explosion. “I was standing with my back to the wall, outside the compound, when there was this huge explosion. I had just found some plastic bottles with a bit of gasoline inside when I saw a plume of smoke and flames above my head. I was propelled forward. It was really violent", admits this Vauverdois, employed for a year and a half at the municipal police of La Grande-Motte.

Rib tear

Injured in the ribs, he was immediately taken care of by emergency services and evacuated for a check-up at the Lapeyronie hospital center, from where he left, early in the afternoon, with the confirmation of a rib tear.

I saw the death of near

“I tell myself that I have seen death up close. On the one hand, because I was lucky that the wall protected me. And on the other hand, because I had left the compound looking for a fire hydrant when it exploded."

"If the explosion had happened a few minutes earlier, I might not be here to talk about it because I was in the parking lot of the synagogue putting out the frames of the two doors of the religious service that had been set on fire by the accused."

Without his intervention, the entire synagogue could have caught fire

An initiative that, according to Mayor Stephan Rossignol, probably saved the building. “You only have to see the state of the red carpet under the entrance door that leads to the Torah to understand that without her intervention the entire synagogue could have gone up in flames.”

An action welcomed by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin who received her when she left the hospital, along with her teammate who was also extremely shocked by the events.

A sacred fright

"It will forever remain etched in my memory as a hell of a fright. All the more so now that I realize that I could have come across a terrorist", concludes the person concerned.

Jean-Michel Weiss appeals to the government

“Once again, the municipal police have been alongside the national police and the national gendarmerie for an intervention that is out of the ordinary. We hope for better consideration of our salaries, our careers, and the attractiveness of of the profession but also a recognition of the risks that municipal police officers take."

"I would like to remind you that a few days ago, in Angoulême, it was municipal police officers who opened fire on an individual who had just set fire to a town hall. We are often the new arrivals. And if we are not, we are very quickly with the police and gendarmes”, reacted Jean-Michel Weiss in his union hat of national secretary FA-FPT (Autonomous Federation of the Territorial Public Service) in charge of municipal police officers.

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