Nearly ten businesses were damaged and three vehicles set on fire including one, parked, of the municipal police in urban violence in the night from Saturday to Sunday in the city of Gabelle in Fréjus (Var), a-t- we learned from the police and firefighters.
There were no injuries, according to firefighters, but a police union mentions three minor injuries among the police.
Read also: In the Lyon suburbs, fatalistic residents after three consecutive evenings of urban violence
"
Between 30 and 40 individuals started by lighting trash fires
" on a large shopping street that runs along a sensitive neighborhood, national police reported to AFP. They then threw projectiles at the police. A two-wheeler shop was set on fire as well as street furniture, seven to eight shop windows were damaged and three cars burned, including one from the municipal police, according to firefighters and police.
“
A night of chaos. Another night of chaos, I want to say because it is unfortunately recurrent in Fréjus and on the whole of the territory
, explains this Sunday Davido Reverdy, national secretary "
province
" Alliance Police nationale, on BFMTV.
It was 11:30 p.m. It was around the city of Gabelle, the famous city of Gabelle, where individuals were grouped together and caused nuisance. When we arrived, 70 or 80 people emerged from the shadows who attacked our colleagues with throwing projectiles. There an urban guerrilla scene which lasted until 3 am (...) It is not the prerogative of Fréjus and the city of Gabelle, it is somewhat [the case] in all cities of France
”.
“
It starts with a simple check - I remind you that we are still in confinement - to ask young people to return to their homes since in addition they cause nuisance to residents who are prevented from sleeping. Unfortunately, it ends in ambush, with vehicles burnt in significant numbers, with seventeen degraded businesses between the commune of Fréjus and that of Saint-Raphaël
, said the unionist.
The rue Jean Giono and the avenue du Général Leclerc were decimated by this horde of individuals who broke everything. We have three colleagues slightly injured - two from the national police and one from the municipal police - reinforcements must have arrived from Var, Hyères and Toulon and I think that this evening a CRS company should be dispatched on the spot.
".
The union of national police commissioners (SCPN) also states that three police officers were injured during the riots.
According to a police source, the burned-out municipal police vehicle was parked and empty, on the edge of the artery where the violence was concentrated and was set on fire when the troublemakers dispersed.
There were no arrests, according to the police.
"
The violence has escalated
"
The neighborhood had already experienced tensions in recent weeks but "
the violence has escalated
", said the police.
Two weeks ago, eight kilos of cannabis had been seized in this neighborhood, said the police without making any link at this stage with the events of the night.
The clashes lasted until 3/4 in the morning before calm returned to this district, which straddles the town of Saint-Raphaël. The mayor of Fréjus, David Rachline (National Rally), told AFP that he had "
written to all state services to ask for reinforcements
".