The procession left from the church of Tonneins, where a mass of more than an hour was held this Friday evening.
An evening dedicated to Vanesa. After a mass of over an hour in memory of the 14-year-old girl, kidnapped and killed in Tonneins in Lot-et-Garonne last Friday as she was returning from school, a crowd formed to participate in a white march this Friday evening.
More than 3,000 people took part in this stroll through the streets of the city.
“Vanesa, Vanessa”
Dressed in white, in the front row, members of Vanesa’s family led the huge procession, photos and candles in their hands. Also on the front line, relatives of the teenager hammered in one voice the first name of their missing friend: “Vanesa, Vanesa”.
“I don’t have the words”
One of the 9000 inhabitants of the city, blown away by the crowd gathered for the young girl, reports that “we have never seen so many people in the streets of Tonneins, even for demonstrations”.
“It warms the hearts of people who don’t know the family or the little one and are there for her,” whispered one of the walkers to BFMTV, while a lady added: “It can be a neighbor, a neighbor , it can affect my grandchildren”. “It can happen to anyone, anytime and it happened to her,” another participant said.
A minute of silence was observed when the procession arrived in front of the Vanesa school. After which, the mother of the young girl spoke, in Spanish: “Thank you for accompanying us in this moment. I do not have the words, I am in a lot of pain”.
The teenager will be buried early next week in Granada, Spain.