Grégoire de Lasteyrie appeals for calm. “We cannot continue to have public services that go up in smoke”.
“The anger that can be heard in no way justifies serious degradation, the endangerment of others”reacted Friday June 30 on franceinfo Grégoire de Lasteyrie, mayor of Palaiseau, vice-president of Île-de-France Mobilités, while many buses were degraded this night in reaction to the death of Nahel, 17, killed Tuesday by a police officer during a road check in Nanterre.
>> Death of Nahel: new night of violence in several cities follow the live
franceinfo: What is the situation?
Gregory of Lasteyrie: We had several bus depots that were attacked last night. A dozen buses were set on fire at the Aubervilliers depot, 14 at the Provins depot, in other depots there were intrusions and damage, particularly on public roads. Today, most bus networks are in operation, but that does not mean that all the buses are running because we have sectors that are diverted. We don’t have any trams that burned down last night, unlike the previous night, but they’re not all running because we have obstructed networks, rails that are strewn with elements on the tracks.
What do you think of these actions?
It’s an outpouring of violence that is unacceptable because it’s the public services that are affected, those who go to work this morning, who go to study, and who won’t be able to go there or take another hour. The anger that can be heard in no way justifies serious degradation, the endangerment of others.
Is the government’s response up to par?
On the whole of the French territory the forces of order are mobilized, overmobilized, personnel have been recalled. This did not prevent many places from being degraded. I want to appeal for calm, we cannot continue to have public services go up in smoke. A bus is more than 300,000 euros, a tram is more than 4 million euros. Ile-de-France Mobilités will be at the rendezvous of the reconstruction but these sums will not be used for anything else and that is a shame.
On Thursday, buses and trams no longer ran from 9 p.m. What was the benefit of this decision?
This did not put the lives of users and drivers in danger.
“The day before yesterday, we had someone who entered a tram with a Molotov cocktail, who burned the tram while users and the driver were inside.”
Grégoire de Lasteyrie, vice-president of Île-de-France Mobilitésat franceinfo
The fact of having stopped the trams and buses last night meant that we did not find ourselves in that situation. There is heavy material damage but it was not buses with users inside. I am in favor of renewing this measure for tonight.