French theatre director Alain Francon attacked with knife, seriously injured

An attacker stabbed the well-known French theatre director Alain Francon in the center of the southern city of Montpellier on Wednesday, media reported. The 76-year-old was critically injured.

The weapon used in the attack has been found, but the attacker is still on the loose, local media said. Police reportedly sealed off several streets in the city during their investigation.

Francon reportedly suffered an injury to his carotid artery in the assault.

He had been staying in Montpellier while working with students at a drama school, local outlets said.

Police told local reporters that they have ruled out terrorist motives for now.

Francon recently continued his long-running association with the controversial winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in literature, Peter Handke, directing the play The Innocents, I and the Stranger on the side of the departmental road.

From 1996 to January 2010, he was director of the Theatre national de la Colline in Paris and created his own theatre company when he left that position.