Saudi Man Attacks Guard at France’s Jeddah Consulate

A Saudi man with a knife attacked and wounded a security guard at the French consulate in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Thursday before being arrested. Police in the western province of Mecca, where Jeddah is located, issued a statement saying the guard suffered “minor injuries” and that “legal action” was being taken against the perpetrator. According to the police, the attacker was a Saudi national. The nationality of the guard was not mentioned. France’s embassy in Riyadh later said the guard had been taken to a hospital although his life was not in danger. “The French Embassy strongly condemns this attack against a diplomatic outpost, which nothing can justify,” it said in a statement. The embassy urged French nationals in Saudi Arabia to exercise “extreme vigilance.” France is facing growing anger over satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed after a teacher was beheaded on a suburban street near Paris for having shown the cartoons during a class on freedom of speech.