The scene, captured on the evening of Friday, January 12, has been viewed tens of thousands of times. It's an evening of urban violence, in Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines). The Val-Fourré is experiencing a feverish attack, sadly usual, with its cars burned and its garbage cans set on fire. It's screaming, it's running, it's seriously heckling. But suddenly, a surprising detail appears: two firefighters, carrying a ten-kilo outfit on their backs, are running at full speed after a young man from the neighbourhood.
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The sequence, incredible, is unprecedented: the firemen are instructed to retreat when they are attacked and have never been seen responding to the attacks. But Friday night was too much for two of them. Exasperated, they defied the rules, cheered up by yet another attack: a few minutes earlier, they had been attacked in their truck, targeted by numerous projectiles.
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