Here, in Brive, we prefer to talk about the Book Fair. However, before this very important cultural event for the town, the city of Corrèze was widely publicized through a tragic news item. Justine Vayrac, 21, disappeared the weekend of October 22. His body was finally found on the 27th of the same month after the confession of the main suspect of the investigation, Lucas L., indicted for murder, kidnapping and rape and placed in pre-trial detention.
Two weeks later, the streets are teeming with tourists carrying “Foire du Livre” bags in their hands. Traffic jams block the streets of the city center and in front of the place where the event is held, the terraces of the restaurants are full to bursting. Almost all the restaurants in the city are full on Saturday lunchtime, as are the hotels, even the most remote ones.
It must be said that a certain number of stars of French and even foreign literature are present to sign dedications to lovers of words all weekend. Are invited for example Douglas Kennedy, Sylvain Tesson, Joann Sfar, Mathieu Sapin, Vincent Hugueux, Erik Orsenna or Eric Fottorino.
Media coverage that “looks weird”
A welcome party after the tragedy that shook Brive and put the city on the map. This small town of less than 50,000 inhabitants experienced the tragedy mainly through the media. If the last time the victim was seen alive was in front of the famous La Charrette nightclub, the media quickly left the area to go further to the towns of Tauriac and Beynat, where the victim originated. victim and suspect.
“Honestly, I didn’t see the presence of the press, it was more on TV than it was weird”, says Jules (the first name has been changed), an optician from the center of the city. “Seeing our city on TV for a subject like that is not very pleasant”, he regrets. A few television cameras or radio microphones of course roamed the small cobbled streets of Brive two weeks ago, but they quickly left. One news chasing another.
“Yes it was weird, I transported CNews, Europe 1 and BFMTV, says our taxi driver who prefers to remain anonymous. It’s calmed down since, we haven’t seen journalists for several weeks, today we’ve moved on to something else, it’s the book fair. “It was very publicized, but it can also be understood,” adds Régis Bordes, who runs a wine cellar near the nightclub. But this journalistic presence did not last too long, “because after the file went to Tulles then Limoges, we did not really have a concentration of journalists”, he develops.
A peaceful city disturbed by a tragedy
The peaceful life, as described by various traders interviewed by 20 minutes, was still disrupted. For several days, people only talked about that. “When the announcement was made, it was the main subject of the city, whatever the ages”, confirms Régis Bordes surrounded by his bottles of wine. Some people were even frightened, more suspicious, like customers of the hairdressing salon where Morgane works: “I have customers who say they would like to go elsewhere, where it’s a little quieter. The fact that it comes to our region is more complicated, she says. People are more suspicious, and even me, when I go out at 7 p.m. it’s pitch black, I’m suspicious of everything, I trace and I go home. »
The shock was so terrible for some that many residents refused to tell us about it. “It affected us all a little, obviously, Brive is rather a peaceful town, and this kind of news item never happens”, admits the wine merchant. “It still marked us. We are not used to it, ”he abounds. Indeed, “it was weird, we didn’t expect it to happen to us, even if it happens everywhere”, specifies Morgane. “We realize that it happens just about anywhere, anytime and to anyone,” agrees Jules.
Justine was buried Friday in her village in the Lot, this time, away from the cameras. Sunday, a white march is organized in Saint-Céré, in the north of his home department, in his memory. But here, in Brive, “we no longer hear too much about it. We must continue to live in spite of everything,” breathes Jules. And this weekend, the event is therefore the Book Fair, which is, according to Régis Bordes, “absolutely undisturbed”, especially since it is the 40th anniversary, an important meeting for the town.