A motorist deliberately hit and injured a police officer guarding French President François Hollande’s residence in central Paris late Wednesday, resulting in two arrests, police and presidential sources said.

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According to a police source, the car had been driving the wrong way along a one-way street at 11:45 p.m. local time when the officer tried to stop it just metres away from the Elysée Palace.

The driver then “looked into the policewoman’s eyes” before driving straight into her, which indicated his intention to do so.

The car's four occupants then got out of the car and fled on foot.

Motorcycle police were able to catch and arrest two 19-year-old males – the driver and one of his passengers – and are still searching for the two remaining passengers, believed to be a man and a woman.

According to police, the driver had low levels of alcohol in his blood, but was not considered to be over the legal limit.

The police officer received light injuries to her shoulder and hand and was taken to hospital for treatment.

A presidential source said President Hollande, upon his return from the opening of the capital’s new symphony hall, went to see the injured woman while she was still being treated at the scene.

The incident comes as France is on high security alert after a week of violence in the capital in which 17 people were killed in attacks by three militants Islamists, but police said that no connection could be made to those attacks at this stage.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)



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