On October 7, 2020, during a gathering of firefighters in Lyon against the attacks they suffered in intervention after the violence that occurred in Rillieux-la-Pape.

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E. Frisullo / 20 Minutes

  • After the violence that took place last weekend in Rillieux-la-Pape, near Lyon, firefighters gathered on Wednesday to denounce their insecurity in intervention.

  • That evening, they were stoned with bocce balls as they intervened to put out burning vehicles, set on fire by fleeing hooded men.

  • The firefighters denounce "a desire to kill".

“A milestone has been crossed.

We had never seen that before ”.

Three days after the violence that took place in Rillieux-la-Pape, north of Lyon, on the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Rhône firefighters gathered on Wednesday to denounce a "serious and unacceptable situation" for their safety .

Gathered in front of the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service on rue Pierre-Corneille (6th arrondissement), they then calmly rallied to the nearby prefecture to “symbolically” drop off their helmets.

"Insecurity in intervention, we've been feeling it for a long time, but such a surge of violence is a first", testifies Warrant Officer Christophe Sarzier who was present in Rillieux on Saturday evening.

Like his colleagues, intervened that evening to extinguish burnt cars, including a burning vehicle projected on a church, this firefighter denounces a real "ambush".

Petanque balls thrown at them

“When hooded people put vehicles to block the roadway and better rock us with pétanque balls or pebbles the size of a melon, it is because there is a will to kill.

One of the balls fell 50 cm from my head and onto the truck, ”he adds, aware that the assault could have turned out badly for him and his family.

In the procession of 250 firefighters mobilized, all denounce a worsening of the situation in certain sensitive neighborhoods.

"Today, except in the event of imminent danger, we are forced to withdraw, to flee, until the arrival of the police to secure our intervention", confides a firefighter from Corneille.

“Firefighters are there to save people and put out fires.

But we did not sign to get stoned, ”adds Warrant Officer Sarzier.

The Rhône firefighters, one of whom was also injured Sunday morning with a hatchet in the 7th arrondissement, met on Monday evening one of the members of the cabinet of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, who came to Rillieux.

And they were also received Tuesday evening at the Rhône prefecture.

They notably called for reinforcements of firefighters and police officers, understaffed according to them, in the metropolis.

"The Minister of the Interior Gérard Darmanin promised us additional police officers, but without telling us how many, or when," regrets Marc Darcissac.

"Exemplary penalties demanded"

They also ask for the continuation of experimentation with pedestrian cameras, tested for a few months and triggered during complicated interventions, and their extension to vehicles.

"This still helps to deter delinquents and allows us, in the event of prosecution, to provide evidence," adds a firefighter, anxious that the criminal response is "exemplary".

"We need exemplary penalties when we attack a firefighter or a police officer so that, finally, it stops and we can work in safety", adds Rémy Chabbouh, firefighter in Lyon, recalling that in the metropolis, "One of theirs is attacked every two or three days".

Society

Attempted fire in a church in Rillieux-la-Pape: Gérald Darmanin points to "a shock against the Republic"

Miscellaneous

Lyon: A firefighter attacked with a hatchet, a suspect arrested

  • Firefighters

  • Violence

  • security

  • Lyon miscellaneous facts

  • Society

  • Miscellaneous

  • Gerald Darmanin

  • Investigation

  • Aggression