A man armed with a knife has stabbed a French policeman in the neck in central Paris. Attacker neutralised

A man armed with a knife has stabbed a French policeman in the neck in central Paris, in the high-end Champs-Elysees neighborhood and the assailant was shot and died of his injuries, authorities said, just days before the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics.

The police officer was taken to hospital in critical condition.

 Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said the assailant ‘’pulled out a knife and threatened them (the officers), tried to stab them multiple times and succeeded in stabbing.''

He defended the police response as “totally proportionate. They were facing an assailant who was threatening their lives.”

Thursday's knife attack comes just days after a man stabbed and wounded a French soldier patrolling Paris on Monday outside the Gare de l’Est train station in eastern Paris. The man was taken to a psychiatric hospital, according to French prosecutors.

The attacker was shot to death It's the second stabbing attack against a police officer or soldier in Paris in 24h