Reinforcements of police and gendarmerie are sent for the weekend in a district of Valence, after a voluntary fire targeting the seat of the agglomeration at night, we learned Friday from the prefecture.
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A meeting room at the headquarters of Valence-Romans-Agglomeration, in the Fontbarlettes district, was destroyed. " A small group of young people entered the building, stole computer equipment and then started a fire, probably via a Molotov cocktail, " said Drôme prefect Hugues Moutouh. The intervention of the firefighters was delayed because their vehicle was the target of gravel, he added. A " very young adult ", main suspect, was arrested around 3:00 am, according to the prefecture, which condemns this act " in the strongest way ". But his police custody has been lifted. " For the moment, there is no one in custody on these facts", Said Valencia prosecutor Alex Perrin to AFP.
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Reinforcements from Montélimar and Lyon were sent to Valence. And for the weekend, an important device is planned, with mobile gendarmes from Friday and between 60 and 70 CRS expected on Saturday. The situation in this neighborhood is delicate, especially after several weeks of confinement. After some fairly conventional garbage fires, " the tension has increased a notch " in the night from Thursday to Friday with this fire, specify the authorities. The video of a muscular arrest carried out in this same district during the night from Wednesday to Thursday circulates on social networks and has contributed to the tensions.
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Prosecutor Alex Perrin seized the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) " so as to genuinely verify the conditions under which the arrest was carried out ". " A 17-year-old boy had been arrested by the police when he was apparently evading his judicial control, " said Alex Perrin. " During the check-up, things went a little rough, " he said. " It would seem that he himself was violent, and the police had been brought to control him also in a somewhat virile manner ".
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The young man filed a complaint " for violence by depositaries of public authority " against the police service, added Alex Perrin, adding that there was no ITT or hospitalization. The youngster is also summoned to the juvenile court " in respect of the rebellion and for acts of drug use ", according to the prosecutor. Urban violence broke out at the end of April during the confinement, particularly in the Paris region after the accident of a biker involving a police vehicle in Villeneuve-la-Garenne (Hauts-de-Seine).