Six people have been stabbed in a series of random attacks near the Eurostar hub at Gare du Nord station in Paris.

An unidentified man, reportedly under the influence of alcohol, began stabbing people in Rue Max Dormay, just north of the Gare du Nord, around midnight last night.

Five people were initially injured and then taken to hospital as the man ran along pavements stabbing at will.

The unidentified knifeman took out a weapon near Gare du Nord, pictured, and began 'stabbing at will' as he ran along the street, injuring five people and failing to injure a sixth

Sources close to the case told Le Parisien newspaper that a sixth woman ‘escaped injuries because her thick clothes protected her arm from the knife.’

Detectives examined CCTV images of all the assaults, and managed to track the attacker down to a building around a mile away.

His clothes were covered in blood when arrested in the early hours of Wednesday, when he was taken to a police station to sober up. The knife used in the attacks was found on the floor.

Paris prosecutors supported by judicial police were due to interrogate the man today, with a view to charging him with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, while also examining his motives further.

None of the injuries he caused were life threatening, with those hurt released from hospital after minor treatment.

In October two young women were stabbed to death outside Marseille’s main train station in a terrorist attack.

Soldiers standing by then shot the knifeman dead, before Islamic State claimed him as one of their ‘soldiers’.

France remains on high alert following other attempts by knifemen to strike in Paris, including one in Paris exactly a year ago when an Egyptian national rushed at soldiers guarding the Louvre museum.

The man, who was brandishing a machete, was also shot, but survived and is now awaiting trial for a series of terrorist offences.