Particularly hectic Easter weekend in Laval (Mayenne).
During the night of Saturday April 16 to Sunday April 17, around thirty cars were vandalized, and nearly a dozen burned, in the Saint-Nicolas district.
Significant degradation took place, in front of the Departmental Association of parents and friends of people with mental disabilities, ADAPEI 53.
Read alsoNights of riots in Seine-Saint-Denis
The facts are consecutive to "
the arrest without difficulty of a young man aged 18, author of offenses and contempt of the police
", specifies the prefecture quoted by
Ouest-France
.
"
A small group of individuals, some of whom are minors, then took the case as a pretext to engage in acts of vandalism
" between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.
City firefighters responded quickly as fires had been started.
“
We did not sleep
, testifies a resident to the daily.
We could constantly hear motorcycles, firecrackers... When I left, at 6am, it was still blazing.
It looked like a war scene.
Now I'm scared
."
Most of the vehicles attacked belong to the city of Laval, the Departmental Council and the ADAPEI association.
The mayor talks about “housing and employment”
A judicial investigation is underway.
The prefect of Mayenne, Xavier Lefort, said "
strongly condemn
" the violence, while the president of the departmental council Olivier Richefou (UDI) deplored an "
intolerable, unacceptable situation
".
If he also condemned the facts, the mayor Florian Bercault (PS) however added to France Bleu Mayenne wanting to continue to "
be in the dialogue
": "
I give my full support to the firefighters and the police, I also have a thought for all the people in the neighborhood.
We must obviously continue to be in dialogue, to allow each Laval resident to find his place in the city and that means having basic security such as housing, employment, integration.
This is the policy we pursue in the medium and long term.
Unfortunately, this does not avoid clashes and violence that we must absolutely condemn.
Violence must be a source of questioning of public policies to be carried out and this is what we will do in the light of the ongoing investigation
”.
