The Bas-Rhin prefecture indicated that a 25-year-old man died on New Year's Eve, the night of Thursday to Friday.

The victim had "his head torn off" while "handling a mortar".

However, urban violence on New Year's Eve was much lower than last year in the city. 

A 25-year-old man died on the night of Thursday to Friday "his head torn off" by a firework mortar in Alsace, we learned from the Bas-Rhin prefecture, while the New Year's Eve of The year in Strasbourg was marked by less urban violence than last year.

"A young man of 25 died following the handling of a mortar" of fireworks in Boofzheim on the occasion of New Years Eve, said the prefecture.

The victim had "the head torn off" by the shooting, she specified, after having initially mentioned a cardiac arrest.

A 24-year-old man who accompanied him had "his face damaged" and is hospitalized.

"They were in the street handling" the mortar when the accident occurred, we learned from the gendarmerie.

Three other people were injured in the hand in other municipalities in the Bas-Rhin.

The prefecture of Bas-Rhin, like that of Haut-Rhin, had banned the sale and purchase of fireworks throughout the month of December.

Nevertheless, at midnight, firecrackers and mortars resounded throughout the greater Strasbourg area.

Residents pulled them from their homes, the curfew forbidding going out since 8 p.m.

Less violence than last year in Strasbourg

Cars were set on fire in various districts of Strasbourg, but in much smaller numbers than on last year's New Year's Eve, during which police and firefighters were violently attacked.

According to a police union source, about sixty cars were burned.

Several people were arrested by the police, but the prefecture did not wish to communicate their number. 

To prevent vehicle fires in Strasbourg, the police system has been reinforced and parking prohibited in several streets and residential areas.

Several free and supervised parking lots were made available to residents until January 2 and the sale of fuel at the retail level was banned.

"We cannot afford to have the same record as last year. We did our best to make this night go better," said the prefect of Bas-Rhin Josiane Chevalier, after a visit to the emergency room in Hautepierre hospital, to the police and firefighters, late Thursday afternoon.

The "evening will be without concession," she warned.

Elsewhere in the department, the gendarmerie reported around 1am "some fires in garbage cans and pallets, but this remains limited".