Paris policeman attacked by man with hammer at Notre-Dame Cathedral

A policeman was wounded in an attack by a man with a hammer outside Notre-Dame Cathedral here on Tuesday afternoon, Paris police said Tuesday.

"Situation controlled, a policeman wounded, the author of the attack has been neutralized and referred to a hospital," Paris police said on Twitter.

The aggressor was an Algerian student of about forty years and lived in the French department of Val d'Oise, according to French television channel BFMTV.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters that the aggressor had a hammer and a kitchen knife, and he cried "for Syria" in the attack.

Christophe Girard, mayor of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, where Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is located, said that "the police reacted with great rapidity" in an interview by the channel.

"Between Operation Sentinel and the reinforced Vigipirate plan, Notre-Dame is under constant surveillance," he added.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)