“I strongly condemn these actions carried out against essential services for the people of Lyon”, tweeted at 11:45 p.m. Monday evening, the mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet, after the “attacks” of the town hall and the municipal police station of the 1st arrondissement of the city.
Monday evening, spontaneous demonstrations erupted after the rally, equipped with pans, at the time of Emmanuel Macron’s speech on pension reform. According to a press release from the prefecture, “a violent group broke into the town hall of the 1st arrondissement to commit damage”. Just before, trash cans had been set on fire in front of the nearby municipal police station.
The town hall of the 1st arrondissement closed
According to the state services, the firefighters were the target of projectiles during their interventions. They also had to put out a fire that had broken out in the basement of an apartment building, next to the police station, and whose ten occupants had to be evacuated. The prefecture specifies that two police officers were injured during this evening.
This Tuesday morning, the borough hall remains closed due to the damage, reports Lyon Capital.
The mayor of Lyon described these actions as “an attack on the common good” adding that “the opposition to the pension reform and to those who carry it can in no way justify violence”. The prefect of the Rhône, Fabienne Buccio, also “strongly condemned” these events pointing to the “unacceptable endangerment of the lives of others”.