Advertisement

Suspect on the run after security threat at Mont-Saint-Michel abbey in France

A man threatened security at Mont-Saint-Michel in France
A man threatened security at Mont-Saint-Michel in France

A suspect is on the run after a security alert at a busy tourist attraction in France.

Tourists have been evacuated from the famous Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey in western France after a visitor reportedly threatened to attack security services.

Top level security services have launched a manhunt for the suspect, who remains at large.

Police said the man made the threat on Sunday, on one of the shuttles that carry tourists to the site on a peninsula in the English Channel.

Visitors are being turned away and a police helicopter flies overhead.

Tourists have been evacuated from the scene
Tourists have been evacuated from the scene

Officers have expanded the search to neighbouring towns.

Jean-Marc Sabathe, head of the regional administration, told French media: ‘I am ordering house-by-house searches to verify if the individual is still on Mont-Saint-Michel.

‘It’s possible that the individual left the Mont with the flux of tourists,’ Sabathe added.

It’s reported that the man made the threat when he was trying to stage a street performance, and got into an argument with a cafe worker.

Sabathe said the man was caught on CCTV making the threats.

Residents at The Mont have been told to stay indoors, the site’s administrator Xavier Bailly told French media.