A police officer was gravely injured in a stabbing attack in Paris’ Champs Elysees retail district at the 8th arrondissement on Thursday after a security guard at a boutique reported seeing a guy with a knife, according to the Paris police chief.
Laurent Nunez, the police commander, told reporters that the attacker was also gravely hurt, Reuters said.
There has been no information provided about the assailant’s motivations or the circumstances surrounding the attack in which the police officer was injured.
France is on heightened security alert as it prepares to host millions of visitors, athletes, and international leaders during the Paris Olympic Summer Games, which begin on July 26.
Paris police advised people to avoid the Champs Elysees area.
Armed cops were shown on television encouraging people to leave the renowned avenue.
The attack was the most recent in a series of unrelated security incidents in the French capital this week.
On Monday, a knife-wielding individual stabbed and wounded a soldier at a railway station. Authorities are also looking into whether the man who rammed his car into the terrace of a cafe on Wednesday evening did so on purpose.