“Now we are really working to secure the place”, explains acting mayor Alexandre Loffet. City Mall, owner of the premises, is in charge of this step. “The company is already there”he notes.
Towards a demolition of the premises?
It will then be necessary to discuss the remediation of the site. “We will quickly assess whether these are works that must be carried out very quickly or demolitionsays Alexandre Loffet. My wish is that we demolish the entire burned complex and the rest, that is to say the service station, the part with the old restaurant and Printemps. These are unoccupied buildings that are difficult to secure to prevent intrusions. Then, there are cankers in the city center. Our wish is therefore that there be a very quick demolition so that we do not end up with curious people.
An investigation has been opened
No doubt, this fire is very voluntary. The police were also able to quickly identify several alleged perpetrators. The investigation is ongoing. “We quickly arrested a person who was still on the scene.specifies Gilles de Villers Grand Champs, the division prosecutor in Verviers. According to the first elements of the investigation, the people who would be involved in the fire, are all minors. We intercepted four minors in all. They are from the Verviers region and are between 14 and 15 years old. Some have already been heard while for others the auditions are still ongoing.”
The juvenile judge was seized, “given the seriousness of the facts and the extent of the damage”, notes the prosecutor. As these are minors, protective measures will be taken. Expertise must also be carried out. A “fire” expert will go to the site when the site is secure, as will the scientific police laboratory in order to take samples.
“The first elements of the hearing would be that it was young people who decided to set fire to papers. What is the motive? What was the objective? We don’t really knowcontinues Gilles de Villers Grand Champs. It is also not known whether there was a specific desire to set the fire. This may be determined by ongoing homework.”
On social networks, an Internet user, who was doing urbex ( Editor’s note: exploration of abandoned places) with a friend on the site at the time, said he saw a small group of young people setting fire. Luckily, the two men were able to get out of the galleries safe and sound, thanks to the help of a policeman, to whom they explained what they had witnessed.
Saturday morning, most of the evacuated residents were able to return to their homes. “Everyone reacted very well and very quickly.believes Alexandre Loffet. After all the controversy around crisis management, we now see that we are all very well versed. Even without being in the communal phase, everything was coordinated like clockwork. The CPAS was also very quick to provide accommodation and a reception point.”
