A teenager wielding a machete has attacked a Jewish teacher on his way to work in Marseille, injuring him slightly, in what police said was an antisemitic attack.

The 35-year-old teacher sustained wounds to his back and one hand in the incident near the Franco-Hebraic Institute on Monday.

The assailant, said to be around 15 years old, dropped the machete and fled from the scene. Police apprehended a suspect 10 minutes later.

“We know that it is a clearly antisemitic act, a serious act committed a few dozen metres” from a Jewish school, a police spokesman said.

France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, tweeted: “Support for the victim of the revolting antisemitic aggression in Marseille.”

The attack came nearly two months after another assault, north of Marseille, in which three people shouting antisemitic phrases and expressing support for Islamic State stabbed a Jewish teacher, injuring him in the arms, legs and stomach.

Jewish schools have police guards at the start and end of each school day.