A burnt-out car in the Cronenbourg district of Strasbourg.

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G. Varela / 20 Minutes

  • New Year's Eve was agitated in Strasbourg with violence towards the police, firefighters, and many burned cars.

  • The authorities hope to stem this phenomenon this time.

    "The key word is the occupation of the land", announced Monday the prefect of the Grand-Est Josiane Chevalier.

  • Fireworks have been banned, as has the sale of gasoline at retail.

Burnt cars, violence against the police and firefighters ... New Year's Eve 2020 was particularly agitated last year in Strasbourg.

What will it be this year?

Prefecture, police and firefighters hope that the curfew and health restrictions will help avoid such a scenario.

"The key word is the occupation of the land," announced Monday the prefect of Grand-Est and Bas-Rhin Josiane Chevalier.

Between a new security device and the curfew established for health reasons, "we hope that the police will not have to intervene as much as last year", but it remains "a New Year's Eve under high. surveillance, ”she insisted.

"We still have a number of signals since the beginning of December which may lead us to think that we must remain particularly on our guard," said Annie Brégal, departmental director of public security, while firefighters, police cars and a police station were recently targeted by mortars.

"We have the means to cope"

No quantified data has been communicated on the numbers to be deployed, but "we have the means to cope", assured the prefect, highlighting a reinforced "interoperability" between police, gendarmerie and firefighters, but also with the police. justice.

“The goal is to have a strong presence through mobile forces which will be responsible for occupying strategic locations in the various neighborhoods, and more dynamic units in civilian clothes and in uniform, which will have more of a role of detection and detection. arrest, ”detailed Annie Brégal.

Association mediators will also be present to help prevent possible disturbances to public order.

As in neighboring Germany, firecrackers and fireworks traditionally thunder with force on New Year's Eve in Alsace, regularly leading to serious injuries, even death, even though this year the prefectures of Bas-Rhin and Haut -Rhin have banned the buying and selling of these devices for the entire month.

Retail sale of gasoline prohibited

If the Ministry of the Interior no longer communicates the number of cars burnt on New Year's Day, the Alsatian capital is particularly affected by this phenomenon every year.

To limit the presence of vehicles in the street, certain sectors will be closed to parking and supervised car parks at the gates of the city will be made available free of charge.

The retail sale of gasoline has also been banned.

"The circumstances are totally different from last year, but I will only know on New Year's Day what consequences can be drawn from them", underlined the prosecutor of the Republic of Strasbourg Yolande Renzi.

For the violence of New Year's Eve in 2020, 113 people were arrested, many of them minors.

Miscellaneous

Strasbourg: The dismembered body of a woman found in the forest, her ex-husband arrested

Miscellaneous

Strasbourg: A father calls the police after killing his 7-year-old daughter

  • New Year

  • Strasbourg

  • Urban violence