A man was arrested by the police outside the Iranian Consulate in Paris on Friday. He was wearing a fake explosives vest and making dangerous threats. The police locked down the area to keep everyone safe. He didn’t have a clear reason.
The incident happened when things were already tense in the Middle East, and Paris is being extra careful because the Summer Olympics are coming soon.
The person was found guilty of starting a fire at the gates of the Iranian Embassy as a way to protest against the Iranian government. This information was given by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The consulate and embassy are in the same place in a fancy part of Paris near the Seine River.
Iranian officials did not say anything in public about what happened.
The man was seen at about 11 am outside the consulate. A person who saw him told the police that he had a grenade and a vest with explosives. This information was given by a Paris police official. The official did not want to give his name because it was against the police rules.
Highly trained police and soldiers blocked off the area and stopped traffic to make it safe.
The man reportedly made threats of violence inside the consulate, but then left the building by himself, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The police arrested him, but they didn’t find any weapons on him or in his car. The bomb vest was not real, the prosecutor’s office said.
The suspect has been caught by the police, and the Paris prosecutor’s office is looking into death threats. Investigators are trying to figure out why the person did what they did.
The police did not give the name of the person they suspect, but they said he was born in Iran in 1963.
The police knew about him and he got a punishment from the court for setting fire to car tires at the Iranian Embassy in Paris. According to the prosecutor’s office, he said it was a protest against the government of Iran.
The prosecutor said that the man cannot carry a weapon and is not allowed to go to the 16th arrondissement for two years. The sentence was put on hold because the defendant appealed.