This Sunday, folklore takes back its rights at the carnival of Strépy, bereaved last year by a driver whose mad race had cost six lives.
The crowd was huge! They were several hundred people, this Sunday at dawn, to take part in the collection of the Boute-en-train society. Shortly following 5 a.m., the group of Gilles crossed the rue des Canadiens.
As a tribute, six Bengal fires were lit at the locations where the lives of six people suddenly ended. A famous tune by Gilles, “le Mitant des camps” was also sung.
Among the participants, Antonio Gava, injured last year: “It was very very hard, emotionally speaking. We definitely had tears in our eyes. It’s the first time we’ve been there. So, there was a lot of emotion! When I saw all my friends, all the girls, the tears were there. The carnival is a party and the gilles are values: respect, friendship, conviviality. So, of course, we are happy to meet once more. It’s nice to see so many people. It was necessary to pass the course, even if we will never forget. I think regarding it every day and so do others. Now we must continue. I hope the carnival will go wonderfully,” he told RTL.
The party will now continue in Strépy. At 11:00 a.m., the roundel will hunt winter on the station plateau, then the carnival procession will set off from rue Ergot at 4:00 p.m. The festivities will brave the course of the sun and the sky will light up with fireworks at 9:30 p.m. The folklore will continue on Monday with a nocturnal procession and on Tuesday with the burning of the moguls.
A year ago, Sunday March 20, 2022, spring was just around the corner but it was still dark. It was pick up time. Between the bells and the joy of reunion following two years of health crisis, the members of the folk society of “Boute en Train” drummed from house to house to gather. 05:10. The police receive the first emergency calls. A driver has just torn apart the small crowd on rue des Canadiens, in Strépy-Bracquegnies. That morning, six people are broke and will not recover. Ten others are seriously injured and 27 affected more lightly.
Behind the wheel, Paolo Falzone and his passenger stopped a few hundred meters from the collision. Since then charged with manslaughter for five victims and murder for a sixth, the driver is in custody. On March 4, the Tournai council chamber decided to keep him in prison for two additional months. The file will be examined once more by the council chamber in two months.
