• The summer of 2020 was marked by violence and incivility in Palavas-les-Flots.

  • This Monday, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, announced, on the seafront of the seaside resort, reinforcements in police and gendarmes: 3,600 on the French coast and in the mountains, including 280 in the department of 'Hérault.

  • The municipality of Palavas-les-Flots has cordoned off the seafront and the city center during the day, prohibited the access beach at night and recruited six municipal police officers.

The summer of 2020 was stormy, in Palavas-les-Flots (Hérault). Brawls, big-engine rodeos, muscular exchanges between tourists and traders, incivility ... In this seaside resort, which spends 6,500 inhabitants in winter and several tens of thousands in summer, the post-containment season was marked by tensions

( read here),

urging residents to take to the streets, to express their fed-up.

Gérald Darmanin had split a tweet on August 22, demanding from the prefect "the greatest firmness" with regard to violence in the town.

This Monday, the Minister of the Interior was passing through Palavas-les-Flots, to present his “summer device for the protection of populations”.

With, in the suitcases, reinforcements for the police for the summer.

“Last year, there were difficulties all over the country.

Singularly, in vacation spots.

And of course, here in Palavas-les-Flots (…).

Due to Covid-19, many were unable to go anywhere other than France, and we had an influx of people on the beaches of France.

"

3,600 more police forces, including 280 in Hérault

During the summer of 2020, "we sent police and gendarmerie personnel very quickly," continues the Minister of the Interior. We did it earlier this year ”. Thus, since July 1, approximately “3,600 police and gendarmes” more support the police forces already in place on the French coast, and in the mountains. In the Hérault, 280 additional police and gendarmes were assigned. “We want a vacation without violence,” points out Gerald Darmanin. For a gendarme of the Palavas-les-Flots brigade, these reinforcements "in mobile gendarmes and reservists" are "important" to "deal with the situation and the delinquency that one may have to encounter. This allows us to secure our fellow citizens. "

The town, too, has worked hard for the coming summer.

The left bank and the waterfront were closed to traffic for most of the day.

Access to the beach is prohibited at night.

Six more municipal police officers were recruited.

And a nautical brigade was created.

"Everyone has found peace," says the mayor, Christian Jeanjean (LR), who is delighted with the reinforcements announced by the minister.

"It calmed down"

A year after a rotten summer, "we are sleeping soundly," says the elected official. In 2020, “we had 40% more attendance than in other years”. With an influx of tourists who usually spend their holidays elsewhere. “In other countries, in nightclubs,” continues Christian Jeanjean. Everyone came to Palavas-les-Flots. It was so busy that the order was difficult to enforce. We were overwhelmed, there was a lack of law enforcement. We had to deal with incivility. But, he notes, “this has happened in other towns. But maybe they weren't the subject of as much publicity as Palavas-les-Flots. "

As for the traders, the reinforcements are reassuring.

"It calmed down," says an ice cream seller.

For the moment, we have not had any incivilities to deplore.

But it is difficult to know for the moment whether the gendarmes who patrol this seaside resort are reducing tensions.

“The season has only just begun,” notes a ready-to-wear seller.

But the reinforcements are very positive, it reassures everyone.

Last year, there was a lack of staff, especially for the speed of intervention on the scene of incidents.

In 2020, it was very difficult.

All the traders were stressed.

We wondered, each morning, how the day was going to be.

"

Society

Hérault: In Palavas-les-Flots, fights and incivilities pollute seaside holidays

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  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Gerald Darmanin

  • Summer holidays

  • security

  • Beach

  • Society

  • Sea

  • Montpellier