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Police Shoot Attacker Outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris

French police officers stood guard at the site of an attack near the entrance of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Tuesday.Credit...Yoan Valat/European Pressphoto Agency

PARIS — A police officer shot and wounded an assailant armed with a hammer and kitchen knives on the square outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Tuesday afternoon, according to the authorities.

The cathedral, a Gothic landmark on the Île de la Cité in the Seine, across from the headquarters of the Paris police prefecture, was sealed off, and about 900 visitors and worshipers were told not to leave until the situation was declared safe. The square was evacuated.

Gérard Collomb, the French interior minister, told reporters that the attack occurred around 4:20 p.m. when the man approached three police officers from behind and started hitting one of them with a hammer.

“This is for Syria,” the assailant yelled. At least one officer opened fire, injuring the attacker, who was hospitalized.

The attacker was carrying an identity card describing him as an Algerian student, Mr. Collomb said, adding that investigators still needed to verify his identity, as well as his motivations. He appeared to be acting alone.

“One sees that we have gone from a very sophisticated terrorism to a terrorism where, in the end, any tool can be used to carry out attacks,” Mr. Collomb said.

Karine Dalle, a spokeswoman for the Paris archdiocese, said in a text message that the roughly 900 people in the cathedral were notified about the violence and were “sitting calmly” until they were permitted to leave. Two auxiliary bishops were also present, Ms. Dalle said, and reassured the crowd.

There were no signs of panic. A witness in Notre-Dame reported on Twitter that visitors and worshipers were safe.

Three major terrorist attacks in France, in January 2015, November 2015 and July 2016, claimed more than 230 lives, and the country remains under a state of emergency.

Landmarks across France, the world’s most-visited country, are considered especially vulnerable, despite constant policing.

In September, a group of women suspected of plotting a terrorist attack were arrested after a car filled with gas canisters was found near Notre-Dame.

In February, a 29-year-old man armed with two large knives and shouting “God is great” in Arabic lunged at a military patrol near an entrance to the Louvre in Paris and wounded a soldier. The assailant was shot by another soldier.

In March, a gunman was killed at Orly Airport, south of Paris, after attacking a soldier.

In April, days before the first round of France’s presidential elections, an attacker opened fire on a police van on the Champs-Élysées, killing one officer and wounding two others. Officers opened fire, killing that attacker.

The attack outside the cathedral came just days before crucial legislative elections, the first round of which will take place on Sunday.

President Emmanuel Macron has announced he will create a special task force to coordinate the fight against terrorism better.

Speaking to the newspaper Le Parisien this week, Mr. Collomb, the interior minister, said that terrorist threats were “extremely high” in Europe and that security forces in France were more vigilant than ever.

Follow Aurelien Breeden @aurelienbrd and Benoît Morenne @benmorenne on Twitter.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 9 of the New York edition with the headline: Assailant Is Shot in Paris After Hammering Officer Outside Notre-Dame. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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