Three arrests after urban violence in the suburbs of Lyon

Three people were arrested on Friday 1^is October evening, after urban violence in Saint-Fons, in the suburbs of Lyon, where similar incidents also took place in Rillieux-la-Pape, Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned from a police source. This is a “series of incidents possibly linked to the date of Halloween”celebrated Thursday evening, commented the prefect delegate for the defense and security of the Rhône, Juliette Bossart-Trignat.

In Saint-Fons, located south of Lyon, at the end of the day on Friday, a group of around thirty people set cars and trash cans on fire, and fired fireworks mortars. The police who arrived on the scene were targeted by projectiles and had to use tear gas.

Three people were arrested and taken into custody after these incidents, according to a police source. In Rillieux-la-Pape, another town in the metropolis located north of Lyon, urban violence took place two evenings in a row.

Around twenty “hooded and masked young people”

On Thursday, hooded young people set fire to several cars and trash cans, and three people were arrested. On Friday, two Transports en commun Lyonnais (TCL) buses were set on fire around 9 p.m. by around twenty “hooded and masked young people”according to M^me Bossart-Trignat.

The group of young people “stopped the two articulated buses, made the drivers and passengers get out, poured gasoline and set them on fire” the buses, she detailed. One of the burning vehicles rolled slightly and threatened an apartment building whose residents had to be briefly evacuated.

The law enforcement officers who intervened were “violently attacked”with jets of projectiles, added the prefect during a press point in Lyon. A police officer was slightly injured in the face.

Shortly before, on the same avenue, police officers had intervened to stop a “wild barbecue” organized by around twenty young people. Some cars and trash cans were also set on fire, and the police used tear gas. One person was arrested.