The family of this father, killed last week after trying to intervene in a road accident, organized a march to pay tribute to him this Sunday, September 15. Those who knew this 49-year-old man, describe him as loved and very committed to the community.
A silent march is underway this Sunday, September 15 in Grenoble in tribute to Lilian Dejean. This city employee was shot dead on Sunday, September 8, by a reckless driver he had tried to prevent from fleeing after an accident. The alleged murderer, aged 25, known to the courts in particular for theft, violence and drug trafficking, is still on the run. The death of this cleaning agent, a 49-year-old father, has caused considerable emotion in Grenoble, where he is unanimously portrayed as appreciated and very committed to the community.
Born in Valence (Drôme), Lilian Dejean grew up in the Olympic Village district, in the south of Grenoble, where he still lived at the time of his death. He was a team leader in the city’s cleaning department, where he had worked for over twenty years. He was also a manager of the local CGT union – which collected nearly 30,000 euros in a kitty launched to support his wife and two children.
One of his two little brothers, Jean-Marc, remembers arriving as a child with Lilian and their family at the Olympic Village in Grenoble. “He loved this neighborhood, he was very involved, he recounts to France Bleu Isère. In his work too. Union member, former military, former athlete… Lilian was a pillar. He found time to think of everyone. He did a lot for people from different backgrounds. He had inherited that from my dad.”
“A person who had a lot of courage”
His younger brother was not surprised by the act that got him shot twice. He tells France Blue : “I know my brother, he knew me even better because he was the eldest. He was a person who had a lot of courage and who always helped people in need. He said to himself that he was going to help people on a simple accident. He was like that.” It was also “a very active activist who always defended the common good, the collective, always there when needed”, confirms Elisa Balestrieri, member of the CGT Isère secretariat, Dauphiné Libéré.
At work, he is described in the local newspaper as a demanding boss but appreciated by his colleagues. “He was the link between those who had left, giving news of each other. He really took his job very seriously,” confided one of his close friends. On Monday, the Green mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle, also paid tribute to “a public official, a father, a grandfather, a union activist, a comrade, a colleague, a figure appreciated by all.”
Organized by the family, the march left around noon from Boulevard Jean-Pain, where the tragedy took place, to reach the Olympic Village district. The procession should also make a detour to the urban cleanliness offices. The body of Lilian Dejean was handed over to his family by investigators this week and should be buried on Wednesday in Guadeloupe, where he was born.
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