Video of Violent Attack on Grandmother and Child Sparks Uproar in France

A violent attack on an elderly woman and her granddaughter has sparked uproar in France.

Authorities said the incident took place in Bordeaux, a port city in southwestern France, on Monday. Video captured by surveillance cameras showed a man standing in the street close to a house as the 73-year-old woman and the young girl were standing on the doorstep looking out.

As the man approached, the woman and child went back inside, but the man prevented them from shutting the door and forced his way in.

The man is then seen dragging the 73-year-old woman and child out onto the street and throwing them onto the ground. He grabbed the young girl and threw her again, before picking something up off the ground and running off.

Authorities said the video and witness statements led police to quickly arrest the suspect, who wasn't identified. The elderly woman was taken to the hospital, and no information was given on her condition.

The Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Gironde prefecture described the incident as an attack of "rare violence."

"The prefect denounces this intolerable act and hopes that all the light will be shed as soon as possible," the prefecture said in a tweet.

Video of the incident was shared on Twitter by former mayor of Bordeaux, Nicolas Florian. The "unbearable" violence took place in broad daylight, Florian wrote in a tweet.

"I give them all my support. I call for the greatest severity in the criminal justice response," he added.

The suspect is a French man, and he was born in Bordeaux in 1993, cable network BFM TV reported, citing a police source. The man was known to police, according to the network.

Several far-right politicians railed against the attack, suggesting the influx of migrants to France was to blame for crime in the country.

"How awful. Bordeaux today. This is what they have done to our country. French, wake up," Eric Zemmour, a far-right politician and former French presidential candidate tweeted alongside the video.

Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally, France's leading far-right party, tweeted: "These images of a gratuitous attack targeting a woman and a young girl in Bordeaux are terrifying.

"I don't want a France where you can be attacked, for nothing, on your doorstep. Never get used to this."

Marion Maréchal, another French politician and the niece of Marine Le Pen, wrote: "Despicable attack on a grandmother and her granddaughter downstairs in #Bordeaux by a man well known to the police. It's appalling. Impunity, fuel of barbarism!"