Johanna Rolland’s response before the demonstration this Saturday organized by the association S2N, Sécurité Nocturne Nantes. The mayor appeared on Friday afternoon surrounded by the main representatives of Nantes trade. Over and over she repeated: “We unite”. Faced with the escalation of violence in Nantes, Johanna Rolland met Tuesday, October 4, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. And she wanted to bring traders together beforehand, to relay their grievances.
At the end of this meeting, the mayor made several announcements. On Tuesday, she will ask the minister for a mobile force unit of 80 agents, “who should in our opinion be assigned to Nantes and who does not find himself sent elsewhere for legitimate reasons but who is therefore no longer available.” Johanna Rolland will also request a continuous police presence at night in the districts of the city center and will propose the provision of the municipal police: “Our wish is that there is a maximum presence from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., in particular in Bouffay, Feydeau and Commerce”she says.
Decline in attendance at Nantes hotel-restaurants
Catherine Quérard, president of the GNI Grand Ouest (Group of independents in the hotel and catering industry), has been asking for this reinforcement at night for a long time: “Sleepless hours at night are no longer acceptable. We need police reinforcements so that every citizen can walk around safely.” But for Catherine Quérard, a continuous police presence at night in Nantes is not enough. Must also give justice the means to work : “The criminal response is not always appropriate. We have police officers who are exhausted doing their job and behind the criminal response is not made. Sometimes the attackers even find themselves out of court faster than the police themselves. themselves.”
Flavie Paragot, general delegate of UMIH 44 (Union of hotel trades and industries), would like hear about Nantes other than from the angle of insecurity : “This communication serves us. Finally, by dint of being negative we forget all the positive. And there we begin to have a drop in attendance in our establishments.” However, Nantes, as Johanna Rolland reminds us, “it’s 600,000 tourists this summer, 500 new businesses in 18 months and the lowest commercial vacancy rate for the whole of France”.