The indignation is unanimous. The violent car-ram attack which targeted the home of the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne), Vincent Jeanbrun, caused a stir on Sunday July 2. The shock caused by the attack on the elected official of this usually quiet town of 30,000 inhabitants in the southern suburbs of Paris has pushed into the background the decline in violence observed in the night from Saturday to Sunday in many cities. de France, which was then confirmed overnight from Sunday to Monday.
“We will not let anything pass, we will be alongside the mayors”, promised Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, coming to support Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun (LR) in his city.
The attack which targeted the first magistrate of L’Haÿ-les-Roses took place on Sunday around 1:30 a.m., when a car-ram loaded with incendiary products entered the enclosure of his home while he was in his town hall.
The mayors of France call for a “civic mobilization” against the violence
In this context of resurgence of attacks targeting elected officials, the president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard (LR), invited the population on Sunday to gather Monday at noon in front of all town halls. According to him, “150 town halls or municipal buildings (have been) attacked since Tuesday, a first in the country’s history”.
“Since last Tuesday, our municipalities have been the scene of serious unrest everywhere in France, which targets with extreme violence the republican symbols that are town halls, schools, libraries, municipal police”, explains the AMF in a communicated.
The mayors of France therefore call “first on the State to restore republican order: it is its full and complete responsibility. There can be no justice without order.” The mayors of France “then call for a civic mobilization of citizens for the return to republican order. Everyone must take their part in it with responsibility and calm so that dialogue can resume”, indicates the AMF.
Emmanuel Macron receives the presidents of the two chambers
Emmanuel Macron, who brought together several members of the government for a “situation update” at the Elysee Palace on Sunday evening, is to receive the presidents of the two chambers this Monday, July 3, before the mayors of more than 220 municipalities targeted by the violence on Tuesday 4th July. He also asked his Prime Minister to meet the presidents of the parliamentary groups on Monday.
The President of the Republic also wishes to “begin meticulous and longer-term work to understand in depth the reasons which led to these events”, according to the Elysée.
A quieter night: 78 arrests at this stage
At 1:30 am, the police had carried out 78 arrests on national territory (against more than 400 the previous night), according to the Ministry of the Interior, and no major incident had been reported. In Paris and its inner suburbs, 20 people were arrested at 1 a.m., according to the police headquarters.
The night from Saturday to Sunday had also been calmer than the previous one, both in the Paris region and in Marseille and Lyon, the two cities most affected the day before by clashes, destruction and ransacking of public buildings and looting. of shops. Gérald Darmanin had however renewed on Sunday evening a device of 45,000 police and gendarmes throughout the territory.
In five nights of urban violence until Sunday morning, Place Beauvau recorded some 5,000 burnt vehicles, 10,000 trash fires, nearly 1,000 burned or damaged buildings, 250 attacks on police stations or gendarmeries, etc.
An investigation opened for “attempted assassination”
The public prosecutor of Créteil, Stéphane Hardouin, announced the opening of an investigation for “attempted assassination”. While fleeing with her two young children, Vincent Jeanbrun’s wife, Mélanie Nowak, departmental councilor and deputy mayor in charge of community life, fractured her tibia and was hospitalized for surgery.
“There is no doubt that they wanted to burn the house” and, when “they realized that there was someone inside, far from stopping, on the contrary, they unleashed a salvo firework mortar fire which was completely crazy”, testified on TF1 Vincent Jeanbrun. “I never would have imagined that my family would be threatened with death”, he was indignant, calling for “a republican start”.
Sunday evening, the town hall of the small town of Charly (Rhône), south of Lyon, also revealed that a device intended “unambiguously” to cause a fire had been found in the morning at the mayor’s home.
“Let them not break!”
Nahel’s grandmother appealed to the young rioters for calm. “Let them not break the windows, let them not break the schools, not the buses”, urged Nadia on BFMTV. “Tired”, “devastated”, she asked that the police officer who killed the shot pay for his gesture “like everyone else”, ensuring that he had “trust in justice”.
Echoing this, the mayor of Nanterre Patrick Jarry asked “all Nanterre residents to carry the appeal of the Nahel family to put an end to the violence and to act where they are so that it is respected”.
The support kitty for the police officer who fired the shot reaches more than 800,000 euros
A kitty launched on the Gofundme site, an online crowdfunding platform, in support of the police officer who killed Nahel, raised more than 800,000 euros in a few days. This Monday morning, this kitty launched by the former spokesperson for Eric Zemmour’s campaign, Jean Messiha, reached 830,000 euros.
Several left-wing officials have criticized this kitty. “You are hosting a GoFundMe shame kitty. You are maintaining an already gaping fracture by participating in the support of a police officer indicted for intentional homicide”, tweeted the First Secretary of the PS Olivier Faure, asking for the closure of the kitty.
At the same time, 150,000 euros were collected in support of Nahel’s family through another kitty.
François Hollande calls for “national unity”
“The only valid principle” in the face of the current violence, “is that of national unity”, ex-PS president François Hollande said on Sunday. “It is very important in this period that we apply the only valid principle, it is that of national unity”, affirmed on LCI the predecessor of Emmanuel Macron.
“National unity to support young Nahel’s family, national unity for justice, and support for law enforcement and public authorities,” he said. “It is very important to restore authority and order”, he insisted, stressing that “no social cause justifies the use of violence”.