A French police official has been injured after being stabbed with a knife in Cannes, the country’s interior minister has said.

Gerald Darmanin tweeted that his attacker has been “neutralised”.

He added that he would go to the scene of the incident later on Monday.

Meanwhile, David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes, said in a statement on Twitter that the attack happened near the central police station.

Mr Lisnard added that one of the police officers responded by firing his weapon.

The details of the incident are currently being “clarified”, he said.

Both Mr Darmanin and Mr Lisnard said they fully support the police force.

Citing a police source, BFM TV said the attacker opened the door of a police car in front of a police station and stabbed the officer at the wheel of the vehicle.

They then reportedly tried to attack a second officer inside the car, before a third officer shot the attacker

The attack in Cannes comes as worries over violent crime and terrorism feature among voters’ main concerns, in the run-up to the 2022 French Presidential election.

In April, an administrative worker was stabbed to death inside a police station in Rambouillet, a town southwest of Paris, prompting a terrorism investigation.

Her attacker was then shot and killed nearby.

The woman was a 49-year-old administrative employee who worked for the national police service.

Last October, a mob armed with metal bars and fireworks also attacked a police station in the suburbs of Paris.

A group of about 40 tried to storm the police station in Champigny-sur-Marne, about nine miles (15km) southeast of central Paris.

The mob tried, but failed, to force its way into the building in what was the third attack on the station in three years.