The night of New Year’s Eve is marked by urban violence in Strasbourg where twelve people were arrested, and two police officers slightly injured, announced, Saturday January 1, the prefecture and the police. A prefectural decree had been taken establishing, for the night of December 31 to January 1, a curfew for minors under 16 unaccompanied by a parent in the Alsatian capital and in six neighboring municipalities.
There is a “Strong activity”, said at 12:30 a.m. to Agence France-Presse the prefecture, according to which the police made “Use of grenades” in the popular district of Hautepierre “To respond to mortar fire and disperse people”. “So far, 12 people have been arrested, four in the context of urban violence”, Bas-Rhin police said on Twitter. “We deplore 2 police officers slightly injured by firecracker throws and a degraded police vehicle but we will remain mobilized, stronger than ever! “, she also tweeted around 1:20 a.m.
Mortar fire
In Lingolsheim, on the outskirts of the Alsatian capital, a man was “Quickly arrested” after firing “On a BAC vehicle with a mortar”, according to the same source. Vehicles were set on fire in several neighborhoods, another police source said.
“A party organized with 200 to 300 people” was found in a restaurant “Sublet” in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg. From “Mortar fire at police officers” also took place in the parking lot of a supermarket in this town on the outskirts, according to the same source.
“Individuals come into confrontation, there is a great deal of mistrust against the police, a desire to do battle. None of the measures taken is respected, the curfew for minors, the wearing and use of fireworks, nothing is respected ”, lamented this source.
Six units of mobile forces (UFM), that is to say 360 officials, are mobilized for the night of the New Year, as well as nearly 400 police officers and a “hundred” soldiers of Operation Sentinel, had detailed, Wednesday, the prefect of Bas -Rhin, Josiane Chevalier. Across the department, a total of 1,950 police, firefighters and soldiers, according to Ms. Chevalier.
Four prefectural decrees were also taken recently, including one prohibiting the sale and use of firecrackers and fireworks, very popular in Alsace and neighboring Germany during New Year’s Eve where they nevertheless cause numerous injuries or mutilations. Last year, a young man died, his head blown off by a mortar.