2023-07-28 16:50:00
The children who are taking part in summer camps this week frolicked happily between two showers, this Friday, on the grounds of the Maillebotte school. But Thursday evening, it was the firefighters and officers from the Nivelles-Genappe police zone who were on site, and the time was not really fun.
To put it plainly, everyone was quite outraged following discovering that the trunk of a previously healthy oak tree had been nearly 90% sawn off. The tree was still standing, but a bit of wind or a bit of a push might have knocked it to the ground… or onto children playing.
It was a retired municipal worker, walking around Thursday around 8 p.m. on the alley that overlooks the Allée des Coquelicots, who noticed this dangerous situation. He directly called his former colleagues and the alderman in charge of the works, Pascal Rigot (Écolo), also went there. This one did not take off, Friday, by commenting on the incident.
“We had to call the fire brigade because the tree, an oak tree with a trunk circumference of regarding forty centimeters, was in danger of falling. There was clearly a public safety problem and we had to cut it down. But before the firefighters intervened, I called the police myself to request that findings be made. We are facing a totally irresponsible act of vandalism!”
For Pascal Rigot, the author of these facts cannot find any interest in such an act: the tree was growing inside the school, between a school building and a pedestrian alley, and the idea was not to steal the wood since the tree has not been completely cut down.
The City has filed a complaint and will actively follow the procedure. Although a motorized saw (a chain saw or an electric saw) was clearly used, none of the residents interviewed indicated that they had seen anything suspicious or heard sawing noises.
To the knowledge of Pascal Rigot, who is in charge of green spaces, such an act of vandalism is a first in Nivelles. On Facebook, the former alderman Charles Gourdin however reported that an oak tree in Place De Lalieux had also been partially sawn in 2022.
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