INTERVIEW
After the day of clashes between protesters and police in Paris on the occasion of the first anniversary of the movement of "yellow vests", the place of Italy has changed face: pieces of stone and remains burned barricades strew the ground, all the bus shelters were smashed, the cars and street furniture burned, the windows of the shopping center Italy 2 broken ... Faced with the extent of the damage, the mayor of the thirteenth arrondissement of Paris Jerome Coumet confided to Europe 1 that he is "very saddened and angry".
"I wonder about the choice of the place of Italy which was the place of three very important sites, I had alerted the police headquarters on the subject," he said. When the protesters gathered late Saturday morning, the square was under construction, occupied by "three important projects".
"There was equipment that could be used as a projectile or be burned"
"I think we could have determined a better place," laments Jerome Coumet. "There was equipment that could be used as a projectile or be burned." Several construction equipment remained on site have been degraded. Faced with the damage noted, the Paris police headquarters finally decided in the early afternoon to cancel the event from the Place d'Italie and evacuate the premises.
"I also saw the courage of the police and firefighters who have not stopped to intervene all afternoon and who were in front of very determined breakers," congratulates the elected. He also salutes the work of the cleanliness officers in Paris, deployed on site a few hours after his evacuation.
The agents of the cleanliness of Paris already at work to clean the place of Italy
Thanks to them pic.twitter.com/t971a5FgI4
"I'm not against the protests myself but it was not a protest," he said. "From the beginning of this rally, there were fires, clashes, projectiles launched ... This is not a demonstration in a democratic country."