Less urban violence than last year during New Years Eve in Strasbourg, but a terrible accident nearby.
A 25-year-old man died on the night of Thursday to Friday hit by a fireworks mortar in Alsace, we learned from the Bas-Rhin prefecture.
The young man "died following the handling of a mortar" of fireworks in Boofzheim on the occasion of New Years Eve, said the prefecture.
The victim had "his head torn off" by the shooting, she said, after having initially mentioned a cardiac arrest.
A 24-year-old man, who accompanied him, had him "his face damaged" and is hospitalized.
"They were in the street handling" the mortar when the accident occurred, we learned from the gendarmerie.
Three other people were injured in the hand in other municipalities in the Bas-Rhin.
“At least one of them had a finger torn off,” says France Bleu.
Sale of fireworks prohibited
The prefecture of Bas-Rhin, like that of Haut-Rhin, had banned the sale and purchase of fireworks throughout the month of December.
Nevertheless, at midnight, firecrackers and mortars resounded throughout the greater Strasbourg area.
Residents were dragging them from their homes, curfew forbidding going out for 8 p.m.
Cars were set on fire in various districts of Strasbourg, but in much smaller numbers than on last year's New Year's Eve, during which police and firefighters were violently attacked.
According to a police union source, about sixty cars were burned.
Several people were arrested by the police, but the prefecture did not wish to communicate their number.
"The maximum to make this night go better"
To prevent vehicle fires in Strasbourg, the police system has been reinforced and parking prohibited in several streets and residential areas.
Several free and supervised parking lots were made available to residents until January 2 and the sale of fuel at the retail level was banned.
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“We cannot afford to have the same record as last year.
We did our best to make this night go better, ”said the prefect of Bas-Rhin Josiane Chevalier, after a visit to the emergency room at Hautepierre hospital, to the police and to the fire brigade, late Thursday. 'afternoon.
The "evening will be uncompromising," she warned.
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Elsewhere in the department, the gendarmerie reported around 1 a.m. of "some trash and pallet fires, but this remains limited".
