Fréjus: degraded shops and vehicles set on fire in urban violence

About fifteen businesses were damaged and three vehicles burned down in urban violence during the night from Saturday to Sunday in Fréjus, in the Var. Three policemen were slightly injured, while a police car was set on fire. "Between 30 and 40 individuals started by lighting trash fires" on a large shopping street that runs along a sensitive neighborhood, national police reported to AFP.

They then threw projectiles at the police.

A two-wheeler business was set on fire, as was a food store.

About fifteen windows were broken, and street furniture was damaged.

Three cars were burned, including one from the municipal police, according to firefighters and police.

According to a police source, the burned-out municipal police vehicle was parked and empty, on the edge of the artery where the violence was concentrated and was set on fire when the troublemakers dispersed.

There were no arrests, according to the police.

Tensions in the neighborhood in recent weeks

The neighborhood had already experienced tensions in recent weeks but "the violence has escalated", said the police. Two weeks ago, eight kilos of cannabis had been seized in this neighborhood, said the police without making any link at this stage with the events of the night. The clashes lasted until 3-4 am before calm returned to this district which straddles the town of Saint-Raphaël. Var departmental security investigators are responsible for investigating the perpetrators.

The mayor of Fréjus, David Rachline (National Assembly), told AFP that he had "written to all state services to ask for reinforcements". The Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, told him a few minutes later on Twitter that a CRS company, ie 70 police officers, would be deployed Sunday evening to reinforce Fréjus "to enforce the republican order".