PARIS -- An assailant wielding a hammer attacked Paris police guarding Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday, crying "This is for Syria" before being shot and wounded by officers outside one of France's most popular tourist sites, authorities said.
At least 600 people were stuck inside the 12th-century church while police secured the streets around it, then combed the pews while visitors sat with their hands raised. Others fled in panic from the sprawling esplanade outside the cathedral.
The assault was the latest act of violence targeting security forces at high-profile sites in France, which remains under a state of emergency after a string of Islamic extremist attacks.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told reporters that a police officer in a three-person patrol was lightly wounded in the attack and that the assailant was shot and wounded by a fellow officer. The attacker's condition was being evaluated.
"A person came up behind the police officers, armed with a hammer, and started to hit the police officer," he said.
The man cried "This is for Syria" but said nothing else indicating a motive or a link to extremist groups, Collomb said. No group immediately claimed responsibility, and Collomb said the man appeared to have acted alone.
A hammer and kitchen knives were found on the assailant, as well as a student identity card indicating he was from Algeria, Collomb said. He said authorities were working to verify the card's authenticity.
"We have passed from a very sophisticated terrorism to a terrorism where any instrument can be used for attacks," the interior minister said.
The head of the Municipal Police Defense Union, Cedric Michel, said the attacker was about 40 years old.
The incident happened around 4:20 p.m. A large number of police cars were sent to Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine River where the cathedral is located.
Authorities told people to stay away from the area, and some took refuge inside the cathedral. People inside the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, a chapel noted for its stained glass, and area bars and cafes were told to stay inside while the police operation was underway.
Among the several hundred people ordered to remain inside the cathedral was former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nancy Soderberg. She was admiring the church's stained glass windows when a French announcement came on urging those inside to stay calm as police dealt with an incident outside.
The visitors got nervous when they were told soon after that the doors were closing and everyone had to stay inside, Soderberg said from inside Notre Dame.
"It was really scary; we had no idea if there were any accomplices inside," she said.
They were released Tuesday evening one by one after careful police searches.
Witnesses described a dramatic police operation in the tourist-filled area.
Lawrence Langner, a 73-year-old American visiting a neighborhood just across the Seine River from the cathedral, said he suddenly heard a commotion and two detonations like gunshots.
Soderberg said those inside the cathedral remained calm and orderly despite not knowing what was happening, though "everyone was very quiet and very scared" when police went in to check the cathedral's pews row by row.
She tweeted a photo from inside Notre Dame showing those locked inside putting their arms in the air as instructed by police.
"We will remember this for the rest of our lives," she said. "Now everyone just wants to go home."
The attack came the day before President Emmanuel Macron unveils his first efforts against terrorism, which Collomb called the president's top priority.
Paris remains under high security after Islamic extremist attacks in recent years, including several targeting police officers and security personnel.
In April, an attacker opened fire on a police van on Paris' Champs Elysees, killing one person and gravely wounding two others. The attacker was shot dead by police.
Tuesday's incident recalled two other attacks on soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris, one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport in March.
Information for this article was contributed by Angela Charlton, John Leicester, Sylvie Corbet and Sylvia Hui of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/07/2017