Armed with a knife, he takes two women hostage and closes himself in a shop: fear in Paris

Great fear in Paris, where a man armed with a knife, "known for psychiatric problems" took two women hostage in a shop in the 12th arrondissement. The hypothesis of terrorism has already been ruled out.

The kidnapper, "about fifty years old", took the two women hostage in a boutique in the Bastille district, where the search and intervention brigade of the police headquarters was sent, the same source said.

One of the two women was subsequently released, sources from the prefecture said. The woman is "unharmed", the sources specify, while the leather heads continue negotiations with the man barricaded inside.

Among the requests made to the police, that of being put in contact with the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin and to be able to speak with a negotiator of the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) of the French police.

The deputy mayor of the area, Emmanuel Grégoire, invites the citizens to "avoid the area and follow the directions of the prefecture of police".

A large security perimeter has been erected between Faubourg Saint-Antoine and rue Crozatier, explains a witness resident in the neighborhood, quoted by France Presse.

Dozens of policemen and soldiers from the counter-terrorism force were mobilized for the intervention.

(Unioneonline / vl)