At least 200 people gathered Saturday (August 31st) in the village of Steve Maia Caniço, who disappeared on the night of the Music Festival in Nantes, to pay tribute during a "white march" to the extracurricular animator who is much appreciated by the students.
"I did not mention the circumstances of his death with my daughters, I would be too uncomfortable," said Patrick, whose six and nine year old children were attending Steve at the recreation center of Treillières, a village of 9.000 inhabitants north of Nantes.
"It's disturbing, what am I going to have to tell them when they will start wanting to go out?" Says the father. "I'll have to tell them now: we must be careful when there are police," fears the fifties.
The village of Steve upset
Steve's body was found at the end of July in the Loire, more than a month after a techno party he attended on a quay on the island of Nantes and ended with a controversial police intervention. Six investigations are in progress, notably to determine the circumstances of his death.
When the school year ended in June in the primary school where the 24-year-old was working, parents and children still had hope of seeing him again at the beginning of the school year. "My six-year-old daughter told me 'he went to heaven', but the eldest who was in CM2 last year does not want to talk too much about it," said Fatima Neto. "He was great with children, my daughters loved him a lot," she said.
Inhabitants dressed in white
The procession of inhabitants, parents of pupils and young children dressed in white and carrying balls of white balloons paraded in the streets of Treillières where Steve worked and lived. This gathering organized by the collective "Treillières in memory of Steve" ended with a minute of silence in front of the school.
Colleagues, relatives and friends of the young man were also present. Among them, Morgane, who was with Steve on the evening of the Music Festival. She left the wharf where the evening "a little before four in the morning" and the beginning of the police intervention.
"The mourning is very complicated," she said, saying she was touched by the testimonies of parents whose children "cry at night", "do not understand" and are "afraid of the police".