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18th October 2023
10:59am BST
A British police officer has reportedly claimed she was held at knifepoint and raped under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The Mirror reported Wednesday that the 23-year-old female officer told French Police she was attacked by a man at the Champ-de-Mars just before midnight on Monday.
According to the newspaper, the officer claims the man took out a knife after she rejected his advances.
The man is said to have fled the scene but was later located by police.
A 35-year-old man was arrested about an hour after the woman reported the crime and was held in custody overnight
According to Le Parisien, the woman was a tourist who was staying overnight with a friend and was targeted after she went behind a bush to go to the toilet.
The woman was said to have only been separated from her friend for a few moments before the suspect appeared.
She called emergency services immediately and officers rushed to the scene along with firefighters who took care of her.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
There has been heightened security in France in recent days after a Chechen refugee stabbed a teacher to death and injured two others at a school in Arras on October 13.
The teacher, alter named at 57-year-old Dominique Bernard, was praised for saving the lives of others.
President Emmanuel Macron said the Bernard had "intervened" and "undoubtedly saved many lives."
"His seriously injured colleague and the staff who were also seriously injured showed the same courage. But so did the headteacher and many others in that moment."
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