France church stabbing: Person seriously injured with knife wound to neck near Montpellier
A PERSON has been seriously injured after being stabbed in the neck near a church in Montpellier, France.
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French media report one person, a 75-year-old man, was attacked in the throat and is said to be in a critical condition. Emergency services are currently on the scene, with a large security perimeter in place. The incident took place at about 11.30am local time in the centre of Montpellier.
It is thought the victim was attacked just outside the Saint-Roch church and was found on rue de l'Ancien Courrier in l'Ecusson.
He has since been rushed to a local hospital for emergency treatment.
Midi Libre reported the man was cut in the carotid artery, the main vessel that supplies blood to the head.
Police are currently looking for the suspect.
Authorities do not believe the attack is terror-related.
France has been rocked with a number of fatal stabbings in recent months.
Last October hree people died in an attack at the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice.
All three victims were attacked inside the Basilica before the first Mass of the day.
One elderly victim was "virtually beheaded", officials said. Another woman and a man also died.
A male suspect was shot and detained.
Two weeks prior to the Church attack, history teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded outside his high school after showing his class caricatures including one of the Prophet Muhammad during a discussion on free speech.
The teacher had received death threats after giving the class, during which he showed pupils the controversial cartoons.
The gruesome killing happened in broad daylight outside the school where the teacher worked in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, north-west of Paris.
Speaking after the attack, President Macron said: "One of our fellow citizens was murdered because he taught, he taught his pupils freedom of expression, to believe or not to believe. Our compatriot was the victim of a blatant Islamist terrorist attack."