An investigation was opened in Grenoble (Isère) after a arson which destroyed the night of Saturday to Sunday the premises of a research laboratory located on the university campus of Gières, according to the parquet floor of Grenoble.
The fire, which did not make a victim, broke out between 3 am and 4 am on the first floor of this laboratory piloted by the University of Grenoble-Alpes, the CNRS and the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble. According to the Dauphiné Libéré, this laboratory is dedicated to research on materials mechanics and civil engineering.
The fire then spread to the roof of the building, also housing classrooms, machines and computer equipment. Some 700 m2 of premises burned down, according to the firefighters. "The fire is a priori of criminal origin since a door seems to have been broken and that several starts of fire were noted," said Sunday the prosecutor Eric Vaillant.
"No claims" at this point
The scientific police were still at work on site Sunday noon. About sixty firefighters were mobilized to extinguish the flames. "No claim has yet been brought to our attention," added the magistrate, who entrusted the investigation to the Grenoble antenna of the judicial police and the Isère departmental security.
Eric Vaillant also announced that he had informed the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) of these investigations to "allow him to seize the facts if he deems it necessary".
In mid-January, the PNAT had not taken up the investigation into the fire at a depot for Enedis vehicles in the Grenoble suburbs, claimed by the anarcho-libertarian movement. Eric Vaillant had then explained to the press that he hoped an anti-terrorist referral in the face of the reiteration of similar facts in the region for three years.