The ashes are still smoldering as city workers scrape away what has been burned.
This Wednesday morning, the streets of the Val-Fourré district, in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines) bore the multiple traces of a restless night.
As evidenced by the traces on the ground, the fires were numerous.
“In intensity, we had not known that since the beginning of the year”, confides a police source.
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During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, several dozen trash cans, barricades and a bus shelter were set on fire, in clashes between the police and several dozen individuals.
The arrest of a young person could be the cause.
"Our colleagues often carry out arrests in this sector, it does not always give rise to episodes of urban violence", nevertheless tempers the source, who evokes a first night of confrontation the day before.
The fifteenth attack on police officers in two months
During the two hours between the security forces and the youths, from around 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., the police would have come under fire from mortars and Molotov cocktails.
Two officials were reportedly slightly injured.
🚨🚨#ManteslaJolie: urban violence in Val Fourré after the arrest of a 17-year-old who went wrong pic.twitter.com/Pc0wWQdA4T
– Mantes News (@mantes_a) May 4, 2022
“This is the fifteenth attack on our colleagues from Yvelines in the past two months,” reminds François Bersani, SGP Police-FO Unit delegate.
The state of mind of the police is between resilience and fatalism, because there is a feeling of abandonment in this election period.
It feels like safety is being pushed out of the debate, dust is being swept under the rug.
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