Shots fired near Cannes festival jury members

A man has been arrested after discharging a starting pistol near two prominent members of the Cannes Film Festival Jury during an outdoor broadcast on the town's busy seafront.

Christoph Waltz, the Austrian star of Django Unchained, and Daniel Auteil, prolific French actor, were being interviewed by the TV station Canal + when the man let off two shots in the air.

“The bodyguards jumped over the barriers into the crowd and pulled him to the ground. The police arrived and told everyone to run because there was a grenade in his hand,” a witness told Reuters.

The actors dived for cover, but later emerged unharmed. The police arrested the man, who was also found to be carrying a dummy grenade and a knife.

“It really appears to be a crazy guy,” a police spokesman said.

Waltz and Auteil returned to the set after the perpetrator was dragged away. Both men are serving on the jury, headed by Steven Spielberg, that will select this year's Palme d'Or, awarded to the best film from the festival's main competition. The public TV broadcast is a regular feature of the event and always draws a huddle of onlookers.

The incident came only a few hours after it had been announced that $1 million dollars in jewellery had been stolen from the Novotel hotel on Thursday night. It was originally thought that the jewels were intended for actresses to wear on the red carpet, but Chopard, owners of the gems, later denied this was the case.

The Cannes Film Festival continues until Sunday. May 25th.