The brawl did not make any victim, except a minor wounded, Thursday at the end of the afternoon at the Westfield Carré-Sénart shopping center in Lieusaint, but it made a lot of noise. And for good reason: twenty people are in police custody again this Friday morning for their participation in this fight between bands. Among them, nineteen minors and one major, confirms the departmental direction of Public Security of Seine-et-Marne.
The belligerents are all young inhabitants either from one district of Melun or another from Mée-sur-Seine, a town bordering the city-prefecture. Rivalries have persisted for years between young people from the two communes.
A slightly injured policeman
According to the police, the protagonists first "warmed up" during the day on Thursday via an instant message very popular with teenagers. The beginnings of a general fight. It remained to fix the place of the brawl. It will be the shopping mall of the Carré Sénart shopping center, in Lieusaint, around 5.30 p.m. Some arrive armed with a brass knuckles or a knife, others with the usual crutch that can make one think of an injury but turn out to be a formidable blunt weapon to confront an "enemy".
The security of the shopping center immediately raised the alarm. Police intervened immediately to calm the spirits and evacuate the scene. One police officer was slightly injured during the operation.
A recent precedent, January 11
Already last month, a confrontation had united the members of two rival gangs. Coming from several cities of Seine-et-Marne and Essonne, a hundred young people had responded, on Saturday, January 11, to a call via social networks to meet to fight in the same shopping center.
They had sprinkled with tear gas, bothering some customers in the process. However, there were no injuries. Dispatched to the scene in more than 40, the police re-established order around 7 p.m. Four people were arrested.
Weapons were discovered. One of the belligerents held a knife and after the troubles had dissipated, the police had put their hands on sticks, knives, an ax and the famous crutches, all hidden in the aisles of the shopping center.