Tensions are taking place around the La Courneuve police station this Sunday, March 17, BFMTV learned from consistent sources in the evening. Calm returned shortly before midnight.
Four days after the death of an 18-year-old young person during a collision of his scooter with a police car, tensions erupted this Sunday March 17 in La Courneuve, in Seine-Saint-Denis. According to our information, individuals threw fireworks and projectiles at the police station in the evening. Trash cans were also set on fire, a police source told BFMTV.
Sending mobile forces
Questioned on BFMTV this Monday, the day after these tensions, the police prefect indicated that the Courneuve police station was targeted “by a mortar attack at 10:50 p.m.” carried out “by around fifty individuals”.
“Very quickly, I deployed reinforcements, which made it possible to regain control of the situation. By 11:30 p.m., calm had returned,” adds the prefect, who thanks “the police for their responsiveness.” After an initial assessment of six arrests, Laurent Nunez reported this Monday a total of nine arrests, including seven adults and two minors.
“We can make a link between this attack on the police station and the death of a young man in Aubervilliers as part of a police operation a few days ago,” said the prefect, indicating that the young people suspected of carrying out the “came from the neighborhood where he came from”.
Laurent Nunez also announces the strengthening of the security system in La Courneuve this Monday, with the dispatch “from midday” of mobile force units.
“We will very likely have a mobile force unit from noon. In addition to local personnel, there will be at least a hundred personnel who will be present today and this evening in La Courneuve,” explains the state representative.
Death of an 18-year-old on Wednesday
Videos posted on social networks showed groups of individuals firing fireworks in abundance at the facade of the police station. On its X account, the T1 tramway announced around 11 p.m. that traffic was interrupted between La Courneuve and Saint-Denis “following security measures”.
La Courneuve is the subject of particular attention following the death on Wednesday evening of a young man from the town, Wanys R, during a chase with the police in Aubervilliers.
The scooter driven by the 18-year-old was pursued by the police after a refusal to control. In an avenue in Aubervilliers, his two-wheeler was hit by a vehicle from an anti-crime brigade (BAC) called for reinforcements, which was coming in the opposite direction.
In the collision, Wanys R. was killed and his passenger injured. A video of the tragedy was widely distributed on social networks and in the media. The family’s lawyer accused the police on Friday of having “deliberately” hit him, with the police’s lawyer criticizing an “untruth” and defending the accident theory.