Explosions were heard in Paris before a van caught on fire near the French prime minister’s Office, just a day after his resignation.
Witnesses reported hearing three explosions near the Hotel Matignon, where Sebastien Lecornu had been due to hold meetings after his resignation, Le Parisien reported.
Pictures from the scene show a van in flames as emergency services seek to contain the blaze. Local media have reported that the fire was contained to the van and has not spread to any surrounding buildings.
It is not clear what caused the explosions or fire. A firefighter said to reporters that the blaze was caused by a mechanical fault in the company’s equipment.
Images shared on social media appear to show the van belongs to a public lighting company. The road, Rue de Varenne, has been cordoned off with officers stationed to prevent entry.
Mr Lecornu’s resignation came just a day after naming his ministers, and after only 27 days in the role. The former defence minister, was due to deliver his general policy statement to the National Assembly on Tuesday.
His resignation makes it the shortest-lived government of the Fifth Republic. He is the fifth prime minister to resign from the role in two years.
“The conditions were no longer met for me to be able to exercise my functions and allow the government to go before the National Assembly tomorrow,” he said in a statement on Monday.
He continued that “these political parties sometimes pretended not to see the change, the profound rupture, not to use Article 49.3. There was no longer any pretext for parliamentarians to refuse to do their job.”
Article 49.3 gives the government the power to pass bills without a vote from parliament.
President Emmanuel Macron has asked Mr Lecornu to renew negotiations with opposition parties to find a way out of the instability the country is facing, according to Reuters.
