An individual suspected of preparing “violent action” arrested in Bordeaux, two days before the passing of the Olympic flame. – Liberation

While the Olympic flame crossed the Gironde department this Thursday, May 23, Gérald Darmanin announced that a man had been arrested in Bordeaux.

He was planning “violent action”, assures the Minister of the Interior. This Thursday, May 23, Gérald Darmanin announced on X (ex-Twitter) the arrest of a man this Tuesday who threatened the passage of the Olympic flame in Bordeaux. Aged 26, the individual was arrested near the Gironde capital, after broadcasting a “disturbing message” on social networks, the prosecution said this morning.

An investigation was opened six days ago, on May 17, “after a report from the PHAROS platform which had detected a worrying message that could correspond to an apology for crime and referring to the mass killing that occurred in California on May 23 2014,” added the public prosecutor in Bordeaux, Frédérique Porterie. During a search, a “gun knocks” [une arme avec des balles en caoutchouc]several cell phones and a computer” were seized by the police.

“In police custody, the person concerned admitted to having considered committing an act, without a specific location, following an attack he had suffered. No reference to the Olympic flame was mentioned,” however, underlined the magistrate in a press release, specifying that the man was being prosecuted for “apology of crime and criminal association”.

Updated: 11:00 a.m. with details on the man’s identity and whether an investigation has been launched.