TESTIMONIAL EUROPE 1
In the aftermath of the tragedy, stupor reigns in the streets of Signes. Monday, the Mayor of the Var, Jean-Mathieu Michel, died after being overthrown by a van, when he had just surprised his passengers dumping rubble on a private road. "It's a nightmare", reacts to the microphone of Europe 1 Stéphane, the son of the elected 76 year old, confiding his "anger" and his "sadness".
"My father was great," he says, describing a "great grandfather and great-grandfather, whom his little girls will not see anymore." While Jean-Mathieu Michel had been Mayor of Signes since 1983, Stéphane says that his father had "managed his commune for years, as if it were his home".
Two people in custody
The driver of the van and his passenger were taken into custody. According to France Bleu Provence, Jean-Mathieu Michel was on a local road nearby at the time of the incident. After seeing people illegally unloading rubble on a private road, he asked them to stop and pick up the rubble on the ground. It was while leaving that the vehicle hit it. With Europe 1, Stéphane expresses his "anger to be powerless, to be able to do anything against people like that, who do silly things, crush".