“I can’t get over seeing this. We are far from Paris here. Destroying a bus won’t bring this kid back to life. The whole neighborhood needs public transport. In front of the imposing carcass of a charred busway, south of Nantes, Nadia said she was “surprised” by the extent of the damage caused in the city during the night from Thursday to Friday. Relatively calm the previous days, the working-class neighborhoods of Nantes were indeed ablaze in the context of national tensions linked to the death of Nahel in Nanterre. The toll is heavy: several vehicles and businesses destroyed, as well as a town hall annex, a post office and a service building damaged.
Scenes that revive the memory of the urban violence of 2005 but, above all, those that shook Nantes for five days in July 2018 following the death of young Aboubacar Fofana, killed by police shooting while driving a vehicle. “It seems to be starting again. I feel that the next few nights are going to be difficult,” worries Selma. ” The last time [2018] it was only neighborhoods like ours that were affected, there was nothing in the wealthy neighborhoods. It’s a shame. Afterwards, it takes years to rebuild. »
“The neighborhood seemed to be renewing itself”
To the east of Nantes, in the Bottière district, the desolation was perhaps even stronger. Local residents discovered with dismay what remains of the Centrakor store, whose brand new 1,500 m2 building was inaugurated just over a year ago. Several dozen firefighters were still at work to ensure that the fire, which started around 2:30 a.m. that night, did not resume. But there is nothing left to save: the decoration shop in this priority district, which is the subject of an 83 million euro global renovation project led by the metropolis, has completely gone up in smoke. ” It’s sad. This store was beautiful, at least the neighborhood seemed to move a little, renew itself, says Fouad, a resident. Frankly, it’s incomprehensible. At 9 a.m., one of the store’s nine employees, who was unaware of the fire, arrived to take up her post and couldn’t hold back her tears.
In the Nantes-Nord district, several car wrecks were being evacuated, and the smell was still very present this Friday morning. The building and the roof of the annex town hall have been burned, doors and windows seem to have been attacked. “I am angry for several things: the first is that behind the cars that have been burned, this town hall which is inaccessible, there are people who work and who have not asked for anything. But at the same time, it’s a pressure cooker here, gets carried away by a mother of two grown children. Nobody takes care of these young people, they hang around, there is no work. What do you want them to do? I’m thinking of moving from here, I’m tired of nothing changing. »
“Young people express themselves through violence”
Among the people who came to see the damage, a debate took place. “No need to have a crystal ball to know that after the death of this young person, there were going to be this kind of reaction, thinks Louisa. We can go for walks, but the youngest, who didn’t know 2005, they express themselves through violence, and it’s going to start again, it’s not over, I tell you. The town hall, it is a little present, but the State, it is where? »
The mayor of Nantes, Johanna Rolland, denounced this Friday the violence and called for a return to calm. “I know the anger, I know the feeling of injustice that is expressed. But violence won’t solve anything. First of all, they harm the inhabitants. It is much-needed equipment that has been degraded. I am thinking first of all of them, of the inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods who are the first victims of this situation. »