“This accident is not linked to urban violence,” immediately specifies police officer Sylvain André, departmental secretary of the Alliance 67 union. Around 1 a.m., a dramatic road accident occurred on rue de la Lauch, an artery of the Cité de l'Ill, a sensitive district of the Strasbourg metropolitan area. When he had just been dropped off by a family member near his parents' home, a 15-year-old young man ran across the street to return to his home. It was then that he was violently hit by a speeding car. The driver immediately fled.
The scene was filmed by video surveillance cameras and the driver's license plate was noted. “The arrest of the driver should be fairly quick,” estimates Sylvain André. “It’s a traffic accident. We tend to stigmatize adolescents, but in this specific case, the victim respected the rules in force by having an adult drop him off at his home,” underlines the trade unionist. It refers to the prefectural decree in force for New Year's Eve which stipulated that a curfew was put in place throughout Bas-Rhin from 10 p.m. for each minor not accompanied by an adult.
Knocked over on the road then quickly transferred to the Strasbourg University Hospital, the young man finally died from his injuries in hospital. On several videos posted on social networks, we can see the victim on the ground surrounded by very large emergency resources and police personnel.
Traditional land of urban violence every New Year's Eve night, the Alsatian capital could count on numerous human resources deployed on the ground last night. During a press conference on Tuesday, Jacques Witkowski, the Prefect of Bas-Rhin, indicated that “700 police officers were engaged for this New Year's Eve as well as 500 gendarmes including dozens of CRS who came as reinforcements from Essonne.” This important measure by the police seems to have borne fruit since this Wednesday several sources speak of a “relatively calm night”.
Still according to the local union leader, around “sixty cars were set on fire in the police zone in Bas-Rhin and 44 people were arrested”. In a press release published this Wednesday noon, the Strasbourg town hall presents “its condolences to the family of the young man killed” and mentions “several serious injuries during the handling of firecrackers”. For its part, the Alliance 67 union, testifies to “colleague police officers targeted by mortar fire and molotov cocktails in several Strasbourg neighborhoods as well as ambushes for the personnel present on the ground last night”. For the moment, the Bas-Rhin Prefecture has not yet published a consolidated report on this urban violence.
