His night was short, like that of his technical agents. Thursday evening, Mayor Nathalie Appéré noted with horror that a few hundred individuals were attacking downtown Rennes. Gathered to protest against the Immigration law, which the Constitutional Council had just stripped of part of its texts, the demonstrators ransacked the historic center of the Breton capital. They attacked the windows of often independent businesses, tagged numerous buildings, including the town hall and the Parliament of Brittany, going so far as to turn over a car belonging to a woman with a disability.
After several hours of wandering the streets of the city center, the police intervened to disperse the crowd with tear gas. CRS 82 arrived at 12:30 a.m. when calm had returned. At the forefront, the socialist mayor questions the lack of reaction from the police.
Nathalie Appéré, what is your view on this damage committed in the city center?
I’m angry, very angry in fact. I spent a large part of the night in a crisis unit. We were able to coordinate the intervention of our services after 1:30 a.m. last night when calm had returned. I went to the city center this morning and saw many broken windows and damaged public buildings. I wonder who can get up in the morning wanting to take an iron bar and attack property. There is a jubilation in degradation, a desire to break. It’s unbearable. These people want to sow chaos. This is a scenario that we have seen so much in the past. They are always the same. I can not stand it anymore. The people of Rennes can’t take it anymore.
You also criticize the intervention time of the police…
I want to understand, like all Rennais, why we let this happen. There was an unbearable delay of at least an hour during which groups were able to break everything. How is it possible ? The authorities must report this to the people of Rennes. It had been a few days since we saw the beginnings of action. There was an attempted intrusion at the town hall on Wednesday, another at the CAF, blockages at the university.
This gathering was announced, we knew it and we had alerted the prefecture. No one can say it wasn’t predictable. So how can we have several hundred activists wandering the streets of Rennes? What anticipation? What has happened ? I called the prefect Thursday evening when I saw that the situation was becoming tense. I told him, “Don’t let this happen!” » I was told: “Yes, yes, we will intervene. »
What I’m waiting for now is for arrests to be made and convictions to be made. These people’s place is before the courts. They only seek chaos.
A new gathering is announced this Friday evening. Do you fear it?
The demonstration against the Immigration law planned for this evening has been declared, which was not the case for yesterday’s rally [jeudi soir]. Given what happened yesterday, I appeal to the organizations that are planning this meeting. I am very attached to the freedom of everyone to express themselves but I think that a static gathering on the Esplanade de Gaulle would be easier to supervise. A demonstration in the city center would not be appropriate after what happened. It will then be up to the prefect to decide whether this gathering should be held.