The cars of a mayor of Haute-Loire and his burned wife

Tuesday 06th May 2025 09:50 AM

During the night of Monday to Tuesday, the vehicles of the mayor of Aurec-sur-Loire, Claude Vial, and his wife were burned. The elected official denounces a “criminal” act and expresses his support for state authority. An investigation has been opened, and a complaint will be filed, while the risk of propagation to dwellings has been dismissed.

The cars of the mayor of Aurec-sur-Loire (Haute-Loire) and his wife were burnt down on the night of Monday to Tuesday, the authorities said and the elected official who denounces a “criminal” act. The mayor’s vehicle, Claude Vial, “was burnt down CE (Tuesday) morning around 12:45 am, the fire having spread to the vehicle of his spouse parked nearby,” the public prosecutor of Puy-en-Velay Cathy Pajon told AFP.

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“At this stage of investigations, no track can be favored” and an investigation has been entrusted to the Yssingeaux research brigade, she added. According to a source from the gendarmerie, the track of a criminal fire is however “privileged”. In a press release, the town hall announced that a complaint will be filed and denounces “a criminal fire”: “The vehicle parked in the interior courtyard of the elected official took fire instantly”.

According to firefighters from Haute-Loire, ten people were evacuated and the risk of propagation to dwellings has been dismissed. “No one has been injured, which is a relief,” said the town hall that “it is the figure of the mayor of the city that was targeted”.

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“I have confidence in state authority”

“It is a real attack on the Republic (…) This type of action demonstrates the weakness and cowardice of those which we condemn daily through our courageous security policy, which disturbs,” said the mayor, elected since 2008, quoted in the press release. “This test gives me one more reason to remain mayor” and “I have confidence in the authority of the state so that the reaction is up to the facts,” he continues.

“The name of the mayor of Aurec-sur-Loire (Claude Vial) thus feeds the list, already too long, of the mayors of France victims of threats, malicious acts and incivility, because they are representatives of state authority”, adds the town hall.