The shocking video received a lot of commentary and was shared in Lyon (Rhône).
Sunday evening, in the central and popular district of Guillotière (7th district), a scene worthy of David Fincher's “Fight Club” was filmed by residents of the Place Gabriel-Péri.
About a hundred people in a circle around two fighters gathered in front of a McDonald's restaurant, visibly flanked by two men in yellow t-shirts appearing to be organizing the event.
"It lasted two rounds," says a resident of the neighborhood. We wonder if there were not bets. On Sunday, the police, who are regularly called to the area for clashes linked to the street selling, cigarettes and drugs, were contacted by residents of the arrondissement shortly after 8 p.m. Upon arrival of the forces of order, the street fight was over, but a lot of people were still gathered in front of the fast-food restaurant. According to our information, no complaint was lodged and no information concerning possible bets was collected by the police officers who did not proceed to any arrests. The eventual organizers have not been identified either.
Here is the thing which was missing: street fights organized on the place Gabriel Dépérit #guillotiere #lyon.
Anecdote: In December 2019, we decorated a Christmas tree and we had the police.
And there ??
@prefetrhone @villedelyon: will have to REALLY take control!
pic.twitter.com/ukCZHDlVPl
-! ⃝ Angry Guillotière! ⃝ (@Guill_encolere) July 26, 2021
"I can not stand it anymore"
This is not the first time that this kind of fist has taken place in the middle of the rue à la Guillotière.
In 2019, two men were filmed during a street fight, boxing gloves in fists, in front of the same restaurant.
At the time, bets of a few tens of euros had been made.
The images of this scene of violence were shared by the Angry Guillotière collective, which has been fighting for several years against incivility and insecurity in this neighborhood.
" I can not stand it anymore.
When we created the association, we were not at this point and we wonder when it will stop ”, despairs Nathalie Balmat, president of the collective and resident of La Guillotière for thirty years.
And to add: “The district has always been a little sulphurous, it was a happy mess.
Today, I remove the
merry one
.
It used to be a bit scary in some alleys, which we avoided, but now it's the case almost everywhere.
"
Read also Urban rodeos under the windows of the town hall of Lyon
Here, the management of delinquency has become a political affair for the majority ecologist in Lyon who considers that they are inheriting a situation "which slowly deteriorated during the Collomb period", explains the president of La Guillotière in anger.
But the recent proposals of the mayor, Grégory Doucet, to improve the life of the neighborhood have not reassured residents, torn between security solutions or more social measures.
"The neighborhood is a cut throat"
During a public meeting, the elected official announced a strengthening of the police presence, the intensification of video tagging, the legalization of the activities of street vendors (cigarettes, counterfeit products, trinkets, etc.) via a flea market. , the installation of a house of public services… And also projects of ecological urinals, pedestrianization, revegetation… Measures considered insufficient by for a trader attending the meeting and who howled his dismay: “The district is a cut-throat. What you are saying is fine on paper, but we are in a hurry. It's war and today we can't take it anymore. I voted for you. But there it is now unlivable ”. All this, before the holding of this street fight ...
And there are other sources of tension.
On July 21, a huge anti-police tag "ACAB" (
Editor's note: for All cops are bastards, all cops are bastards
) was inscribed by an anti-fascist group on the walls of Mazagran Square, in the heart of the district.
The offensive slogan was quickly erased by the city services, while Mohamed Chihi, the deputy (EELV) in charge of security, announced the filing of a complaint.
"Our municipal agents who work for public peace should not be insulted in this way," he railed on his Twitter account.
A few hours after the tag was cleaned, a new one appeared on the same wall.
"You erase, we go back, you repaint, we come back.
Force to all the families of victims of violence and police crimes, ”tweeted the Antifa Lyon group.
This pass of arms between the extreme left and the municipality is symptomatic of another battle being played out locally with certain political groups militant against the gentrification of a district where the prices per m2 are higher than 5,100 euros. "Everyone fiercely defends their end of the sidewalk," concludes Nathalie Balmat, from the La Guillotière collective in anger. But if the communities in this neighborhood no longer speak to each other, that will no longer work. "
