The prefect of Côte-d'Or issued a decree banning all demonstrations in Dijon on Saturday, after a call by certain residents of the sensitive Grésilles district to come into the city center at 2 p.m. to request his resignation, fearing violence . The city experienced tensions from June 12 to 15, which began with a punitive expedition by members of the Chechen community to Dijon residents of North African origin after the assault of a Chechen adolescent.
The fact that the police did not intervene initially led to accusations of "laxity" from politicians, residents and residents of the districts targeted by the Chechen trips. "An unfounded opinion would make believe that the police did not intervene and that the quarters were abandoned with the vindictiveness of a violent group. This is not the case, of course, ”wrote the regional prefect and prefect of the Côte d'Or Bernard Schmeltz to the inhabitants in a press release.
A large part of the city affected by the ban
"The same people who spread these ideas encouraged an undeclared demonstration this Saturday. (…) Everything suggests that violence could be committed on the sidelines of this demonstration, ”says Bernard Schmeltz. He evokes in particular in the motivations of the decree the "violence which certain radicalized elements can demonstrate in the fight against the institutions and their representatives, present in the Dijon agglomeration".
As a result, he signed a protest ban Friday evening that includes the perimeter of the historic city center and the squares connected by the main boulevards forming a sort of ring road. "Two CRS companies, nearly 150 men, will be deployed" to secure the perimeter, said the prefecture, adding "to the police force of the public highway".
Society
Major police operation in Les Grésilles
Society
Five members of the Chechen community arrested in Dijon
- Tchetchenie
- Urban violence
- Dijon
- Society