“It could have ended very badly”, says a resident after the fire in a building in Villeurbanne caused by fireworks mortars

Tensions and scuffles took place on the night of Wednesday to Thursday June 29 in several cities in France two days after the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old young man killed by a policeman during a road check on Tuesday in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). Nighttime violence also broke out in the eighth arrondissement of Lyon (Mermoz), in Vénissieux (Les Minguettes), Vaulx-en-Velin, and in Villeurbanne where a seven-storey building was targeted and set on fire.

On the recent building in joint ownership, the blackened frontage testifies to the drama which could be avoided. Around 12:30 a.m., five teenagers fired rockets into the air. A man complained about the noise, as did the occupant of the fifth. “They specifically targeted the building upstairs, says a neighbor, where the person said they were going to call the police”. He claims that this person was threatened: “Everyone has heard it: ‘we know where you live, we’re going to come and set fire’.“He explains that the flames then spread to the floors below. “It could have ended very badly. Fortunately, we were all awakened by the firing of fireworks. You have to see the noise it makes”.

“There are people in the street who started screaming, ‘get down, get down!’. We all got down before the fire spread.”

a neighbor of the building

at franceinfo

In the building, a chain of mutual aid has improvised, underlines Leïla, the nanny on the ground floor: “On the fifth floor, there was a lady with a disabled child who needed to be evacuated quickly, an elderly person, other neighbors with young children.” “Young people knocked everywhere saying: ‘get out, get out, get out!'”. The town hall has relocated 35 residents to three hotels in the area.