French police say they have arrested a man who tried to drive a car into a crowd outside a mosque in the Paris suburb of Créteil on Thursday evening (June 29).<br /><br />The driver apparently failed to get past protective barriers and no one was injured. The mosque’s managers said several hundred people had been gathered there for the prayer.<br /><br />Worshipers were shocked to have narrowly avoided a “catastrophe,” said Karim Benaissa, the rector of the mosque.<br /><br />“We’re wondering what the man’s motives were – he apparently wanted to cause harm,” he added.<br /><br />Vehicle in France stopped before it attempts to ram into people coming out of mosque in Créteil, France. https://t.co/dkM6X7E9Fq— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) June 29, 2017<br /><br />The driver tried to flee the scene but was arrested at his home.<br /><br />His motives were not immediately clear. The prosecutor’s office told the AFP news agency he was not driving under the influence of alcohol.<br /><br />Le Parisien newspaper reported that the driver said he wanted to avenge attacks on the Bataclan concert hall and the Champs-Élysées, both claimed by the self-styled Islamic State militant group.<br /><br />The incident comes 10 days after a man rammed a van into a crowd of worshipers outside a mosque in Finsbury Park in London, killing one man and injuring several others.<br /><br />Finsbury Park attack: Victim Makram Ali died after being hit by van, inquest toldhttps://t.co/Z13KApGY13 pic.twitter.com/37dhGumYMx— ITV News (@itvnews) June 29, 2017<br />
