Two days after the semi-final between France and Morocco, the situation is still very tense in Montpellier (Hérault) where a teenager was fatally hit on Wednesday evening. While the driver of the vehicle remains untraceable on Friday, his passenger’s apartment was ransacked, CNEWS learned. The latter, a time hospitalized, is now placed in police custody.
A sector under high voltage. This Friday, December 16, the sensitive district of La Paillade, in Montpellier (Hérault) continued to evolve in an electric atmosphere, two days after the death of young Aymen14, fatally hit by a vehicle after the semi-final between France and Morocco in the FIFA World Cup.
According to information from CNEWS, no less than four CRS sections were on site to secure the Mosson / La Paillade sector and prevent any confrontation between the community of Travelers and the Maghreb community.
Thursday evening, some disturbances to public order had already been identified there, according to a source familiar with the matter, young people notably erecting barricades and setting fire to garbage cans. No injuries were reported.
However, a sign of a still very flammable situation, the apartment of the passenger of the vehicle involved in the accident was ransacked, CNEWS was able to confirm.
According to information from the police/justice service of @Cnewsa man present in the car which ran over the 14-year-old teenager on the night following the France / Morocco match, was beaten up and hospitalized in #Montpellier. His apartment was also ransacked 1/2
— Amaury Bucco (@AmauryBucco) December 16, 2022
It was this passenger (there were two in the car, editor’s note) who was beaten up shortly after the accident and who is hospitalized. From a source close to the investigation, the latter was taken into custody in the evening. The driver of the vehicle was still untraceable on Friday evening.
Community tensions and punitive expeditions
A video, broadcast in recent hours on social networks, shows several individuals moving and running, in what would be the Mosson district, shouting “Allah Akbar” or “we are going to n … your mothers the gypsies”.
#Montpellier : about fifty young people raided the gypsy community to avenge the young man killed by a driver after the France Morocco match pic.twitter.com/hiP66EifZr
— C Pas Des Lol (@cpasdeslol18) December 15, 2022
According to Le Figaro, a previous punitive expedition would have already taken place on Thursday morning. A man from the gypsy community was found with his throat slit, but alive, according to a police source to our colleagues. This individual would then have been transported to the Montpellier University Hospital escorted by the BRI (research and intervention brigade, editor’s note), still according to Le Figaro.