The good-natured atmosphere, observed at the end of France’s qualification for the final of the Football World Cup, quickly became electric on Wednesday evening in several cities in France, where clashes broke out. Some by far-right activists. In Lyon, “two concomitant events” darkened the evening, during which eight people were arrested and seven police officers injured.
While trash can fires were lit on rue de la République and the police came under fire from projectiles on place Bellecour, ultra-right activists “showing themselves threatening” crossed the Saône to reach the peninsula in order to do battle with the Moroccan supporters. A brawl broke out. “This required the rapid intervention of the police, who hastened to push them back and follow them in order to prevent them from returning to the center”, indicates a prefectural source. Two individuals belonging to this group – armed with sticks – were arrested and taken into custody, according to our information.
Sticks and edged weapons
In Paris, a group close to the ultra-right was stopped before taking action as it was about to join the Champs-Elysées. Forty people were arrested for “grouping to commit violence” and carrying prohibited weapons. All were placed in police custody, confirms the Paris prosecutor’s office to AFP, stressing that some of them were in possession of knives.
In Nice, the situation also degenerated. Mortars were fired by several dozen people linked to the same movement, while hooded men began to pursue Moroccan supporters, shouting “Arabs out” or “We are at home”, reports Le Figaro. These same slogans were heard in the streets of Montpellier, where a 14-year-old teenager also died after being hit by a driver. Here again, Moroccans were strongly insulted by members of the ultra-right, according to a security source. But no arrests have been reported so far.
” The story repeats itself “
“Alas, history repeats itself. This event is not isolated: it is the direct consequence of a strong comeback of these fascist groups, in Lyon as everywhere in France”, deplored this Thursday the EELV group, recalling that “the extreme right groups are raging for several years in Lyon” and that Grégory Doucet, the mayor of the city, had already requested their dissolution from the Minister of the Interior Gérard Darmanin.
“This situation is no longer tenable,” he adds before asking for an investigation to be opened. What has been done between Rhône and Saône. The Lyon prosecutor’s office, which “intends to recall its determination to provide a firm and rapid response to such violent behavior”, has opened several investigations entrusted to the Rhône departmental security. “They should make it possible to determine their exact involvement in the acts of violence and degradation and establish their motivations. They will also have to make it possible to identify the possible organizers and initiators of these passages to the act”, he concludes with 20 minutes.