Europe 1 with AFP 6:51 p.m., April 3, 2024

Around fifty people set fire to a bus from the Lyon metropolitan area which was traveling on Tuesday evening with passengers in a sensitive district of Rillieux-la-Pape (Rhône), the prefecture said on Wednesday.

Around 11:30 p.m., the group cut the bus off by placing a utility vehicle across the road which they set on fire, as well as "trash", said the prefecture, confirming information from the regional daily Le Progrès.

“Around ten” people then entered the bus, “breaking the window and breaking the door” before setting it on fire, she said. According to a source close to the matter, they poured gasoline into the bus, setting it on fire using “flaming clothes”.

An act condemned by the mayor

No injuries were reported among the passengers, the number of whom was not specified. The driver was "slightly injured", according to the president of the Lyon public transport network (TCL) Bruno Bernard on X (formerly Twitter). The elected official, also president of the Metropolis of Lyon, condemned a “criminal act”.

⚠️ Yesterday evening, individuals attacked and set fire to one of our TCL buses in the town of Rillieux-la-Pape. Our driver was slightly injured, all our thoughts are with him and his colleagues.



I condemn this criminal act in the strongest possible terms. I asked… pic.twitter.com/xaFZJ8aIxr

— Bruno Bernard (@brunobernard_fr) April 3, 2024

After the intervention of the police, including the CRS 83 specializing in urban violence, the fire was extinguished around 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday and the group of attackers definitively dispersed around 2:00 a.m. without arrest at this stage.

“Everything suggests that this fire constitutes reprisals”

The CRS 83 will be deployed every evening, as long as necessary, in the neighborhood, said the prefecture. The bus line will not be served Wednesday evening, according to Bruno Bernard.

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“Everything suggests that this fire constitutes retaliation by the offenders following the seizure” earlier Tuesday “of a van containing stolen motocross bikes, intended for the practice of urban rodeo”, according to a joint press release from Mayor Julien Smati and the deputy Alexandre Vincendet.

Two people were arrested during this referral, according to a source close to the case.