After nearly eight months of investigation, the police believe they are holding the perpetrators of the arson attack on the Chanteloup-les-Vignes marquee, which occurred during a night of urban violence, last November. Three men, aged 19 to 23, were placed in pre-trial detention on Thursday after being charged "for violence in an organized gang and destruction of property belonging to others by fire".
Yvelines departmental security (SD) investigators arrested them on Monday. One of them had been picked up from his home in the city of Noah. The other two were taken from the Bois-d'Arcy prison, where they were imprisoned for other acts. All three have dealt with the police and the justice system in the past in connection with car fires, thefts and drug-related incidents.
The investigators identified them after a meticulous work of surveillance, research of testimonies and elements of forensic science.
One of them is designated on wiretapping as "the moron" who set fire to the tent
The name of the main suspect thus appeared on wiretaps carried out around a band of car thieves who raged in the Trappes sector. During discussions, the criminals under surveillance thus designated a man called "Pepito" as "the moron" who set fire to the tent. Investigators have identified the famous "Pepito" and those around him. They crossed this information with the story of a witness who witnessed the fire at the circus school facility. The police also have a genetic fingerprint found on a bottle abandoned on the spot.
The trio of alleged arsonists were placed in police custody at the SD premises in Viroflay. During the three days of the hearing, they preferred to remain silent.
The marquee of the Compagnie des Contraires, intended to teach circus arts to children and young people in the Noé district, had been destroyed during the night of November 2 to 3, 2019, during scenes of urban violence. Called around 9:30 p.m. for a trash fire, the police had been under fire for several hours from fireworks, jets of Molotov cocktails and stones emanating from a group of thirty masked individuals carrying sticks and iron bars.
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Two young people aged 17 and 21 were arrested the same evening. The youngest, a high school student, was arrested because he fled at the sight of the police. He admitted to having insulted the police and throwing stones at them: he had been released under judicial supervision. The older, unemployed man was caught by the men of the crime squad getting rid of a bag of stones. Locked up, he was released in April as part of the state of health emergency.
