Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: Loic Venance/AFP 6:29 p.m., March 21, 2024, modified at 6:29 p.m., March 21, 2024

Six people, including two minors, involved in the attack on the La Courneuve police station, are referred to court. Three other people were released without charge. The situation degenerated in La Courneuve after the death of Wanys on March 13, after a chase with the police following a refusal to control. 

Of the nine people arrested Sunday evening after the attack on the La Courneuve police station, six, including two minors, were referred to court and the others were released without prosecution, we learned Thursday from the Bobigny public prosecutor's office.

Arrested after the attack on the La Courneuve police station with mortars

They are being prosecuted for damage or deterioration of property by dangerous means and violence against persons holding public authority. The four adults will be judged on May 13. The prosecution requested their placement in pre-trial detention until the hearing. The two minors are referred to the children's judge. One of the people arrested was released on Tuesday evening for medical reasons.

For the other two, “the evidentiary evidence did not allow prosecution to be initiated at this stage” against them, indicates the prosecution. They were arrested on Sunday evening after the attack on the La Courneuve police station with fireworks, Molotov cocktails and stones by around fifty people for less than an hour. The damage was limited to a cracked window and some burn marks, according to a police source.

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“Justice for Wanys”

“We did this to demand justice for Wanys,” a young man told AFP the next day, on condition of anonymity. Wanys R. died on March 13 after a chase with the police following a refusal to control. At the start of the evening, a scooter ridden by two young men was pursued by the police after refusing to control it. In an avenue in Aubervilliers, the two-wheeler is hit by a vehicle from an anti-crime brigade (BAC) called for reinforcement, which is coming in the opposite direction.

A video widely relayed on the Internet shows the police car suddenly swerve when a vehicle leaves the shoulder in front of it and finds itself in its path. She then moves into the oncoming traffic lane where she collides with the scooter which is arriving in front at that moment. In the violent collision, the driver Wanys R., 18, was killed and his passenger injured.

According to the police officers' version and the first elements of the investigation communicated by the prosecution, the collision was an accident but the victim's family accuses the police of having "deliberately" hit the scooter. Thursday, a white march in tribute to Wanys was held between La Courneuve and Aubervilliers, where the young man died.