Four men aged 20 to 25, tried since Wednesday September 22 in Versailles for a night of urban violence in 2019 in Chanteloup-les-Vignes (Yvelines), have all denied having been involved in the fire at a circus school .
Read also Yvelines: an investigation opened after violence and calls for murder against police officers in Poissy
On November 2, 2019, the
police were attacked
"
by about thirty young people
", said a police officer at the trial.
They had suffered jets of projectiles and mortar fire until 11 p.m. in the Noé district, in Chanteloup-les-Vignes, about thirty kilometers west of Paris.
"
I have never seen that in nine years of BAC
" (Anti-Crime Brigade), "
we experienced a guerrilla scene
", assured the policeman.
The youngest of the defendants denies but boasts
On the same evening, an arson attack devastated the circus school belonging to the Compagnie des opposires, an association established for nearly 30 years in Chanteloup-les-Vignes.
To read also Fire of the marquee of Chanteloup-les-Vignes: three suspects indicted and imprisoned
The four defendants present at the hearing, including two currently in pre-trial detention, all denied having participated in the fire in the marquee.
However, the youngest of them, Anis, 20, bragged about it on the phone while he was in remand, noted the president of the chamber, Philippe Boussand.
If he spoke in prison about his participation, it was only to gain respect from other inmates, retorted Anis.
"
I threw a stone and I went home ... it was to show that I was participating
", defended the young man, saying to have been caught in "
the craze
" of the action and to regret His gesture.
Ylliass, 25, one of the defendants in pre-trial detention, denied having been present near the marquee.
But his DNA had been found on a can of beer that would have served as a Molotov cocktail, as well as on projectiles.
"
Sacred coincidence,
" noted the president.
"
Chanteloup is small, my DNA is everywhere in Chanteloup,
" Ylliass replied.
"A real ambush"
Civil party lawyers insisted on "
organizing a real ambush
" to trap the police that evening.
For non-pecuniary damage, two police officers are each claiming 1,500 euros in damages, 2,000 for the third, who had a work stoppage.
The city of Chanteloup-les-Vignes, civil party, claims 1 million euros.
The prosecution's requisitions are expected Thursday.
At the time, the affair provoked strong political reactions.
The Ministers of the Interior, Justice and the City had visited the place, and the then Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, had spoken of "
criminal acts
" caused by a "
small band of imbeciles and irresponsible
”.