During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, shortly before 5:00 a.m., four police cars were set on fire, three police officers were present, they were not injured but “terrorized”, according to the departmental deputy of the Alliance police union, Gregory Lorient.
In response, the interdepartmental director of the national police, Emmanuel Desjars de Keranrouë, promised to “redouble his presence in the city of Dr Ayme and in all the cities of Cavaillon”. And in the afternoon, the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau himself announced the dispatch of CRS 81 after this “attack” which appears to him to be “a new illustration of the drift that our country is facing “.
“The State will not allow itself to be intimidated and we will intensify our fight against drug banditry,” promised the minister in a press release.
At 5:30 p.m., the prefect Thierry Suquet and the Avignon public prosecutor, Florence Galtier, will hold a press conference at the police station. And on Thursday, the delegate minister responsible for everyday security, Nicolas Daragon, is expected on site.
The CRS 81, based in the north of Marseille, is a variation in the south of the CRS 8 unit, created by the former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, to fight against urban violence in particular.
Deployable 24 hours a day, the members of these republican security companies are called upon to support local forces during urban violence, demonstrations that degenerate or to secure major events. They can also provide assistance in operations targeting drug trafficking.
According to the police authorities, the burning of the vehicles was probably “retaliation for police action” against drug trafficking in this town of just over 25,000 inhabitants.
As part of this “clearance” operation, 25 people have been taken into custody in recent weeks, “20,000 euros seized, 15 kilos of cannabis, 6 kilos of cocaine, around ten weapons, long weapons, weapons of fist also seized”, according to Mr. Desjars de Keranrouë.
Thanks to the rapid intervention of the firefighters, there was no damage inside the police station or any injuries. “The five individuals who were in police custody in the police station’s jails were transferred to the Avignon police headquarters,” the Vaucluse prefecture said in a press release.
“An adjacent business and accommodation were affected but the residents were able to re-enter it,” according to the prefecture, which also recalls “the context of increased pressure on drug trafficking in Cavaillon.”
The four vehicles, three “screen-printed” police vehicles and one unmarked, were still parked in front of the police station, whose facade was blackened by the flames, AFP journalists noted on Wednesday morning.
The investigation, opened for “destruction, deterioration or degradation of property by means dangerous to people, committed due to the status of the person holding public authority”, was entrusted to the organized and specialized crime division. from Avignon, according to the prosecutor.
The penalty incurred for these offenses is 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros, she stressed.
In the South-East, Marseille, a port city, is historically an area of trafficking, particularly drugs. But in recent years, medium-sized towns have experienced an increase in drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it, particularly along the Rhône valley and particularly in Vaucluse in Avignon, Cavaillon and Carpentras.
Cavaillon has experienced a few cases of narchomicide in recent years and in 2021, a police officer, Eric Masson, was killed in the street at a deal point in Avignon, worth a 30-year prison sentence for his murderer.
