The assailant had been released from prison in March following an eight-year sentence for violent crime and was on a security services register for individuals who might pose a terrorism risk.
The attack bore chilling echoes to the fatal stabbing of a female police administrative worker near Paris a month ago. Darmanin said the suspect in Friday's assault had been diagnosed as severely schizophrenic and was under medical treatment following his release from prison. He had been placed in an apartment where he was monitored by specialists, Darmanin added.A French gendarme secures the area after an assailant stabbed and badly wounded a policewoman in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, western France, May 28, 2021.
Tackling domestic security is likely to be at the centre of the campaign ahead of next year's presidential election.