A “decrease in violence thanks to the device of the police”, claims the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin. A total of 874 cars were set on fire and 441 people arrested, including 381 taken into police custody during New Year’s Eve.
On the material side, it is indeed a clear drop compared to the 1316 cars burned in 2019 (the year 2020 was not taken into account due to the curfew implemented) On the other hand, the number of people arrested is up (376 in 2019) as that of people placed in police custody (314).
Some 95,000 police and gendarmes were mobilized in France, including 9,000 in Paris, as well as 32,000 firefighters and civil security actors.
In Strasbourg, the night was marked by “strong activity” and violence once morest the police (fireworks, attempted barricades), and 13 people were arrested, according to a police source.
600 arrests on the Champs
In Paris, where the prefecture has made it once more compulsory to wear a mask in the streets to counter the outbreak of Covid-19 cases, 779 people were fined during the night from Friday to Saturday for “not wearing a mask”, a indicated a police source, including at least 600 on the Champs-Élysées.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the police “enforced the instructions for limiting gatherings”.
In the Yonne, a banned rave party still gathered 1,500 people on Saturday morning on an industrial site in Saint-Florentin, according to the prefecture and the gendarmerie.
