The French authorities say they believe a man who tried to attack the Louvre Museum earlier on Friday was an Egyptian. Police are trying to establish if the man was acting alone. A prosecutor said the man had arrived in France last week. He is in a life-threatening condition in hospital after being shot by a soldier. Our correspondent Johnny sent this report from Paris.
On a sunny morning in the heart of Paris at the entrance to one of its cultural treasures, an attack that appeared to come from nowhere. Shots rang out. The museum was sealed. And those working around it tried to understand what was going on.
We heard gun shots. We didn't know what it was. Then we evacuated the employees. And we left. That's what happened. We were stressed. Some colleagues were crying. We were afraid. We were panicking.
Michel Cadot, the Paris police chief explained what had happened.
An attacker armed with a machete and possibly another weapon and who had a couple of rucksacks rushed towards the police and soldiers who were guarding the place and shouting threats and "Allahu Akbar". The nearest soldier fired in self defense.
Later, the Paris prosecutor gave more details.
The attacker, he said, is thought to be a 29-year old Egyptian. He'd been carrying two machetes, each 40 centimetres long. Challenged as he tried to get into the shops beneath the Louvre, he sent one soldier to the floor before being shot in the stomach. President Hollande praised the courage and determination of the soldiers.
We should therefore pay tribute to the courage, the determination and the reaction of these soldiers. The threat is real. It is here. And it's the reason why we allocated so many resources and will continue to do so for as long as is necessary.
Under leaden skies, the Louvre reopened in the late afternoon. But the authority has swift actions of the military here this morning with a reminder of the attacks that took so many lives here before and of the threat that remains in Paris and across France.
Johnny in Paris.
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