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Hate-Crime Probe Launched After Failed Arson Attempt at Clermont-Ferrand McDonald’s

Surveillance footage capturing a hooded man placing the device has prompted authorities to investigate potential ethnic and religious motives

Overview

  • Around 3:40 AM on July 26, a homemade incendiary device wrapped in a torn Israeli flag was placed outside the McDonald’s on rue du 11-Novembre in Clermont-Ferrand.
  • The crude bomb, built with a 10-litre canister of unknown liquid and electrical wiring, failed to ignite and caused no damage.
  • The Clermont-Ferrand prosecutor’s office opened an in flagrante inquiry for hate-motivated attempted destruction and handed the case to the territorial crime division.
  • Investigators estimate the suspect is a hooded man in his sixties who fled the scene and remains unidentified as his motives are still being determined.
  • The incident follows a wave of pro-Palestinian actions against McDonald’s in Europe, including an April arson at a Toulouse construction site claimed by Les Frites Insoumises.