French police arrest suspected arsonist who set fire to Paris churches

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – Police arrested a man suspected of starting a fire in multiple churches in Paris, French broadcaster BFMTV said Friday.

Fires broke out in three churches in the capital since Jan. 17 with the latest one on Wednesday, according to local media.

Paris prosecutor opened three investigations since Monday for aggravated deliberate damage.

A 47-year-old man, who introduced himself as Ukrainian and Orthodox, was caught red-handed and taken into custody on Wednesday.

He is suspected to have started the fire at the Saint-Laurent church.

The probe seeks to understand if the man also put on fire the two other churches.

The Saint-Laurent Church caught fire early on Wednesday, with firefighters noticing pieces of fabric and wooden pallets placed in front of the doors of the church, leading authorities to suspect it was the work of arsonists, according to daily Le Figaro.

Two investigations were already opened on Monday into two previous fires in the Notre-Dame-de-Fatima (Jan. 17 and Jan. 22) and Saint-Martin-des-Champs (Jan. 18).

No casualties have been reported in any of the incidents.