In Paris, police have arrested a 23-year-old man who, according to the police, has admitted that he intended to set fire to the Bois de Boulogne – one of the largest green spaces in the French capital.
According to AFP, citing a police source, the fire broke out late in the evening on 18 July.
The police managed to extinguish the fire before the flames could spread over a large area. As a result of the incident, approximately one square metre of vegetation was burnt.
According to the source, a man at the scene told the police himself that he had intended to set the park alight. He was arrested, and the public prosecutor’s office stated that his detention had been extended pending further investigation.
The incident occurred against the backdrop of a series of forest fires in France. The country is still recovering from a large-scale fire in the Fontainebleau forest, south-east of Paris, which destroyed around 2,200 hectares of vegetation.