Tensions in Mantes-la-Ville.
For several days, this town of 20,000 inhabitants in Yvelines has been shaken by violence between enemy neighborhoods.
Last weekend, several dozen vehicles parked in the city of Merisiers were damaged.
Broken windshields, blown out windows… The vandals methodically attacked the cars.
“They blew it,” confides a resident of Les Merisiers, surprised by this outburst of violence.
Homeowners are angry and disgusted because even if they are insured, they will have to pay the deductible.
Some work and are forced to take half a day to change their windshield.
Those who did this have no dignity.
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Another resident believes that “it’s an operation that was prepared”: “They set up their thing in the middle of the night, in a few minutes, with baseball bats.
It was to be expected.
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This resident has been observing a deterioration of the climate in his town for several days.
The specter of the return of strong tensions between the city of Merisiers and that of “Bas du Domaine” is resurfacing and worrying.
Because for several years, these two popular neighborhoods of Mantes-la-Ville have been at war for obscure reasons.
A context of tensions between two neighborhoods
In June 2014, a 21-year-old man from the “Village”, a residence close to the Domaine, was even shot dead just a few hours after trying to separate two groups who had clashed during the funfair.
Regular settling of scores occurs between young people from both groups for futile pretexts.
“It only takes a few idiots to restart the process,” whispers another.
These damages were allegedly committed in this worrying context.
Read alsoAt La Verrière, residents in “a state of astonishment” after the damage to dozens of cars
According to several witnesses, there were even recent “raids” organized to beat up residents belonging to the “enemy camp”.
The facade of a house was hit with molotov cocktails.
Sunday evening, a young person was even hit by gunfire.
However, nothing formally attests to a link with the current climate of violence.
The town hall is observing the situation with an attentive eye.
The ten or so mediators in the city are mobilized and close work is carried out with the authorities.
“We are very vigilant, everyone is mobilized.
But those who are at the origin of these problems are a real minority, explains those around the mayor (without label) Sami Damergy.
What they have done is above all ruin the lives of families who only want to live peacefully and work.
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