A man known as a neo-Nazi and hooligan fired a rifle shot during France’s Bastille Day parade on Sunday just after President Jacques Chirac had passed by, police and eyewitnesses said. The young man took a .22 calibre sporting rifle out of a brown guitar case just after Chirac had made a tour in an open car around the Arc de Triomphe at the start of the annual parade commemorating France’s 1789 revolution, the eyewitnesses said. Onlookers immediately began shouting and police quickly threw the man to the ground, handcuffed him and led him away, they added. Several plainclothes policemen appeared from among the crowd to help the uniformed police. ‘‘This individual, 25 years old, is known to belong to neo-Nazi and hooligan movements,’’ a police statement said later. The man was a Right-wing extremist who intended to kill the French President, according to Minister Patrick Devedjian. He said the man fired a shot and then tried to shoot himself. ‘‘It was an assassination attempt,’’ said Devedjian, who is under the Interior Minister. ‘‘He fired a first shot . Then he was overcome and tried to turn the weapon against himself.’’ ‘‘He admitted he wanted to kill the President,’’ added Devedjian. The man, who had a short haircut, was seized as Chirac toured the Place de L’Etoile around the Arc de Triomphe ‘‘after he had made use once of a .22 calibre long rifle’’, it added. A .22 calibre rifle is usually used for sport shooting.
