Investigators inspect the burned car after a motorist deliberately rammed pedestrians and cyclists across two neighbouring towns on the Ile d’Oleron, a quiet French island popular with tourists off the Atlantic coast, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)A 35-year-old French man rammed his car into pedestrians and cyclists on France’s Oleron island off the Atlantic coast on Wednesday, injuring at least nine people, officials said.
The suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “God is Greatest”) when arrested by police, the local prosecutor, Arnaud Laraize, told Sud Ouest newspaper.
However, Olivier Falorni, the region’s deputy in the French parliament, said the motive for the attack on a quiet island popular with summer tourists remained unknown, saying the suspect was not on a watchlist of radicalised individuals.
SUSPECT IS LOCAL MAN, AREA’S LAWMAKER SAYS
“We’re dealing with an individual who lives on the island, and the victims also live on the island,” Falorni told reporters at the National Assembly in Paris. “Is this a settling of scores? Or an Islamist attack? I have no idea. Is there a political motive? Is it someone mentally unstable who snapped?”
French media said the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office was not in charge of the inquiry at this stage, and that an investigation for attempted murder was for now being handled by the local prosecutor’s office in La Rochelle.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Officials said two of the victims were seriously injured, including the parliamentary assistant of a far-right National Rally lawmaker.
The suspect’s car struck pedestrians and cyclists in various areas of Oleron island, the mayor of Dolus-d’Oleron, Thibault Brechkoff, told BFM TV. The man then set fire to his car. Police could later be seen inspecting the partially burnt-out vehicle.
KNOWN TO POLICE FOR PETTY CRIME
Le Parisien newspaper said investigators were looking into the possibility that the suspect might be mentally disturbed.
The man was previously known to police for petty crime including driving while drunk, as well as drug-related offences, local newspaper Charente Libre reported, citing the mayor of Saint-Pierre d’Oleron, Christophe Sueur.
“The 35-year old man, of French citizenship, who lives on Oleron island, was known for common law offences and was not known by security services,” junior minister Marie-Pierre Vedrenne told parliament.
