Five injured during the day, all linked to the encierrros, including the torn off finger of a young girl. Two beginnings of tension were quickly brought under control by the police, who noted that the public was numerous in the streets and expected to have to be vigilant for the evening.
Place Henri-Barbusse, in the early evening, there are already crowds at 8 p.m. • François Desmeures
Very popular from this Wednesday morning, the encierrros on the banks of the Gardon caused damage. To the point that this afternoon’s session had to be interrupted due to a lack of sufficient caregivers. Three injured people were taken to the hospital.
Starting with a young girl, this Wednesday morning, who got her hand stuck in a barrier while fleeing the bull and had part of her knuckle torn off. This afternoon, a hand injury and, above all, a head trauma (see the photo here) caused by the bull of the encierro got the better of the race, even though three other minor injuries were to be counted. With the emergency services lacking manpower, it was considered more reasonable to end hostilities.
“Alcohol-related jostling”, but nothing serious
Two “risk starting points”according to the expression of Marian Mirabello, director of Max Roustan’s office in charge of security, were also quickly extinguished. “Shustles against a backdrop of alcohol” but “without oar on each side”. If the afternoon was “young and family”Marian Mirabello and commissioner Emmanuel Dumas expected a more complicated evening, noting the crowd already present during the day.
To avoid excesses, four municipal police intervention groups are distributed across strategic locations and around a hundred national police officers, over the four days of the feria, are responsible for both festival security and road safety – in liaison with the gendarmes – or that of residents outside the party. “We are very vigilant about bladed weapons”, assured Commissioner Dumas. While wishing, obviously, not to see any in the party.
