The man who tried to kill French President Jacques Chirac at the annual Bastille Day parade has been committed to a mental hospital.

Maxime Brunerie, 25, was overpowered by bystanders after firing at the president's jeep with a hunting rifle near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

He is expected to remain in a psychiatric hospital for at least a month, after which officials will determine whether to keep him in hospital or send him to prison.

He was said to be incoherent and suicidal at the time of his arrest on Sunday.

No one was injured by the shot fired

Prosecutors have also told a news conference that a judicial investigation for attempted murder had been opened to determine whether Mr Brunerie was "criminally responsible for his actions" at the time of the shooting.

It was earlier reported that Mr Brunerie had stood as a local election candidate for a far-right party.

The daily Liberation said he ran in last year's municipal elections for the National Republican Movement (MNR), an offshoot of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front.

MNR leader Bruno Megret said on Monday his party had "no connection" with the assassination attempt, which he denounced as an "appalling, crazy act".

Propaganda

French police said Mr Brunerie had taken part in several far-right demonstrations since 1997 and that "extremist propaganda of a neo-Nazi" nature had been found at his home in Courcouronnes near Paris.

The president continued with the parade

They said he had placed a message on an English-language internet site urging readers to watch the television on Sunday, though it did not spell out his intention to shoot the president.

According to police, Mr Brunerie was also linked to a far-right student group, Groupe Union Defense (GUD).

"I wanted to kill the president," he was quoted as telling police after his arrest, adding that he had then tried to kill himself.

He fired at least one shot from the .22-calibre rifle he had taken out of a guitar case as President Chirac passed by.

'Jackal'

Mr Chirac was reviewing troops in an open-top jeep at the start of the annual parade to commemorate the French Revolution.

The Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, said the rifle had been bought last week and was loaded with five bullets.

The incident had echoes of a fictional assassination attempt on President Charles de Gaulle in the thriller "The Day of the Jackal" by Frederick Forsyth.

French presidents targeted

August 1962: Charles de Gaulle's car strafed by army officer May 1962: Failed attempt to shoot de Gaulle September 1961: Bomb explodes near de Gaulle's car May 1932: Paul Doumer assassinated by Russian emigre July 1922: Alexandre Millerand survives attack on Bastille Day February 1919: Georges Clemenceau wounded by anarchist May 1905: Failed attempt on Emile Loubet's life June 1894: Sadi Carnot assassinated in Lyon

The author said on Monday that his own anti-hero would never have taken the risks run by Mr Brunerie.

"No professional would have attempted something so unplanned, with such a high risk of being stopped and caught," he said.

"He produced a rifle in the thick of a crowd, which is madness because he was highly visible."

Cries from the crowd alerted police and the man was promptly overpowered, leaving the parade to continue as normal but raising new security fears.

The president has yet to comment officially, although government ministers said it was a clear assassination attempt.

Despite his far-right connections, officials believe Mr Brunerie planned the attack alone.