A man was taken into police custody in Paris on Wednesday, suspected of having started a fire in front of a church in the 10th arrondissement of Paris on the same day, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP on Thursday, confirming information from Le
Parisien
.
“
A 47-year-old man was arrested yesterday in the early afternoon.
He was taken into custody by the head of degradation by dangerous means on the grounds of religion.
He is suspected at this stage of having committed a fire in front of the Saint Laurent Church
” on Wednesday in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, according to the public prosecutor.
The man is of Ukrainian nationality, according to the daily.
Multiple acts
This placement in police custody comes as justice has opened another investigation by the same leaders into several attempts to set fire to churches in Paris, on January 17 and 22 on the Notre-Dame-de-Fatima church (XIXth arrondissement ), on January 18 on the Saint-Martin-des-Champs church (10th arrondissement).
The 2nd judicial police district is in charge of the investigations.
The door of the first church was sprayed with a flammable liquid, according to
Le Parisien
.
The fire, which was started with newspapers, did not spread inside the building.
Regarding the second church, the fire was lit with pieces of wood in front of the main door and spread inside, according to the daily.
The quickly contained fire caused no injuries.
In a press release on Tuesday evening, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo announced that the city intended to bring a civil action when the time came, denouncing "
with the greatest firmness (these) acts of degradation
".
