A police officer was injured in a knife attack in Paris a week before the start of the Olympic Games

A French police officer has been injured in a knife attack in the centre of Paris, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. The attacker has been shot dead.

“A police officer was attacked in the 8th arrondissement of Paris,” Darmanin said via social networks. He confirmed that the attacker had been “neutralized,” adding: “Agents intervened following a call from the security services of an establishment.”

French media report that the incident occurred when a man was fired upon from a Louis Vuitton store on the Champs Elysees, one of the city’s commercial and tourist centers. When officers arrived, the attacker turned against them, armed with a knife. After one of them was injured, the other killed the man. The agent suffered an injury to his ear.

Le Parisien reports that the two agents involved had just come out of an academy after strengthening their bodies due to the Olympic Games in Paris. The incident took place a week before the opening of the sporting event that attracts thousands of people from around the world. The incident has led to France raising its level of vigilance against potential terrorist attacks coinciding with the sporting event in recent months.

In fact, the attack comes on the same day that the developed security perimeter around the Seine has come into force. The opening ceremony will take place on July 26 very close to the Champs-Élysées. The entire center of Paris in the area around the river has been fenced and access restricted, with numerous agents monitoring the entire area and the busiest points around.