The State is tightening the screws against fans of car tuning and running who regularly gather at the end of the week in the parking lots of shopping centers in Seine-et-Marne to vibrate the engine of their machine, attempt “drifts” (turns spectacular and dangerous) and challenge each other in rodeos. On November 15, the prefect of Seine-et-Marne issued a decree which clearly prohibits these gatherings of people and vehicles because they generate “serious disturbances to public order, security and tranquility”.
Any offender is liable to confiscation of their vehicle and heavy fines, in accordance with the criminal sanctions provided for in articles 431-9 (six months' imprisonment and a fine of 7,500 euros for the organizers; one year's imprisonment and 15 000 euros fine in the event of participants' faces being hidden without legitimate reason) and R610-5 of the Penal Code (2nd class fine of 150 euros).
Concretely, these prohibitions are stated in twelve different municipalities: at Carré Sénart in Lieusaint, in the parking lot of the Villiers-en-Bière shopping center, in front of the Bois Sénart shopping center in Cesson, in the Chamlys activity zone in Dammarie- les-Lys, in front of the Eden shopping center in Servon, in the Leroy Merlin parking lot in Collégien, in front of the Carrefour Les Sentiers in Claye-Souilly, at the Ambrésis business park in Villeparisis, avenue Joseph-Paxton in Ferrières-en-Brie, at the Total service station in Ferrières on the A4 (direction Paris-province), in the car parks of Super U and the Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames shopping area (exit A4 in the Paris-province direction), the Intermarché de Fontenay-Trésigny (RN4 exit) and the Intermarché de Sept-Sorts.
The prefectural ban order applies on weekends over three days on the following dates: from Friday November 22 at 5 p.m. to Monday November 25, 2024 at 6 a.m., and at the same times from November 29 to December 2, 2024, from December 6 to 9, 2024, December 13 to 16 and December 27 to January 2, 2025. Christmas celebrations oblige, it will also apply exceptionally from December 20 at 5 p.m. until December 26 at 6 a.m.
Recent news has shown the real standoff between these fans and the police who came to evacuate them. On November 2, at the Villiers-en-Bière shopping center, a tuning running event attracted more than 2,000 vehicles. It resulted in damage and scuffles, requiring the intervention of police officers from the Republican Security Company (CRS) as reinforcements.
On the night of November 9 to 10, several car and motorcycle gatherings for wild runs, involving around 1,500 vehicles, were orchestrated in the Melun sector. At Carré Sénart in Lieusaint, the police were attacked (projectiles and fireworks were thrown, rows of shopping carts were thrown at the police). A police officer was injured. His colleagues had to use weapons of defense and dissuasion via around sixty jets of tear gas to disperse the participants. No arrests, but eleven of them were then given a simple 1st class fine of 35 euros. Sanctions are getting tougher with the new prefectural decree.
The safety of all is a top priority. On May 1, 2023, on the main avenues of the Carré Sénart district, the 21-year-old driver of a Clio mowed down two spectators who were on the central reservation of the road.
