The phenomenon worries police and gendarmes in Brittany. Since the end of the confinement, the gatherings of dozens of very alcoholic young people, who degenerate into violence against the police, have multiplied in usually peaceful cities such as Brest, Douarnenez, Quimperlé, or even Lannion, in the Côtes d'Armor . In this small town of 20,000 inhabitants, three officials were even victims of an ambush on the night of Sunday to Monday. In two weeks it is the third regular attack against the police
Closing discos as an explanation
Cédric and his two colleagues found themselves trapped between two barriers. "We were caught in an ambush, fifty people who really wanted to break the cop. A real scene of urban guerrilla warfare," he said. "We never thought we would find that here in Lannion in the Côtes d'Armor. I don't understand this violence against us."
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Some police and gendarmes point to the closing of the nightclubs as an explanation: they would play a role of valve which is currently sorely lacking. The merchants of Lannion deplore the very insufficient night police force.
"I lasted half an hour without police in front of fifty people in front, protecting customers. We put injured people inside the bar to help them," said Emmanuel, owner of Le Barn's café. "The trigger is the exit from the Covid, the Traore affair. They regroup to become the police."
CRS requested as reinforcement
"These are social networks, it's global now," added the trader. "Before communication took hours to arrive in the countryside, now it comes out on the Internet and goes as fast to Lannion, as to Paris or New York."
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The UNSA Police union urgently requests reinforcements from CRS every weekend to stop this escalation of violence.