“I thought it was war“: on the Place de Provence, in the heart of the Couronneries district, retiree Nicole remembers as if it were yesterday the night of June 29 to 30, 2023. The fire sirens and the sounds of mortars still haunt her. Perhaps the hardest part was when she came down from home.”around 6am. What I saw was awful.“. The Couronneries district was the most affected in Poitiers by the angry movement of young people: The police station, the post office, several shops and dozens of cars were set on fire.
Since then, the retired no longer dares to leave her house in the evening, for fear that something might happen to him.”I was even scared last night because there were rocket launches. I thought it was starting again“. Clinging to her bag, Nicole is also very angry, because many of the shops have not reopened. She therefore now goes to Buxerolles to do her shopping. And the retiree no longer wants to stop at the small café of the shopping center, it became too difficult to see the traces of the fires on the buildings.
The post office, the police station and various shops are still closed. in this month of June 2024. And the residents miss this, explains one of the sellers whose bakery is next to the post office. But apart from that, nothing has changed in the neighborhood “The kids are outside, younger and younger, from 11 or 12 years old“. In front of the store, Marie-Cécile wonders “if they won, these young people“.
The Post Office soon to reopen in the Three Cities?
In the Trois Cités district, the same services were reached. The police station, the post office, and several businesses were badly vandalized. One of the businesses still has large wooden panels instead of windows. An elderly woman approaches the post office door.that wasn’t there before” she exclaims. This is a prior declaration for construction or work, dated June 5, 2024.**
Salome Martin
In Châtellerault, reconstruction
The same violence has marred the Ozon district in Châtellerault. But it has managed to heal its wounds according to Maryse Lavrard, the first deputy mayor in charge of urban planning. In one year, the total deconstruction of the burned shopping center has been approved. It will be replaced by a green space. Three businesses have expressed the wish to relocate to the area : “the press hall, a non-alcoholic bar and an Armenian grocery store“. The three, plus one more, will be re-established near their original location. A postal service was reopened at the beginning of April, run by the town hall, to replace the post office.
