On the night of August 20 to 21, a devastating fire caused significant damage in the Marcel Sant gallery, in the heart of the Pissevin district in Nîmes (Gard). The police office, recently built and whose inauguration was imminent, saw its structure damaged, due to the fire which spread from an adjoining business. This Tuesday, November 5, almost three months after the events, six people were arrested and placed in police custody in connection with this case, said the public prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac, in a press release.
The suspects, all from Nîmes, are three adults aged 20 to 28 and three minors aged 15, 16 and 17. Their criminal records reveal that they are “all known for acts related to narcotics”according to the prosecutor. The investigation, initially opened for “damage by dangerous means in flagrante delicto” and now carried out preliminary, revealed that the fire had been started intentionally. The fire was in fact caused by a
“massive spreading of fuel via the chimney of a butcher's shop then under construction”said the prosecution.
The motives of the suspects remain to be determined
Investigations must now focus on determining the individual roles of each of the suspects in this act of destruction. This includes understanding the
“conditions and motivations for taking action”added Cécile Gensac, while specifying that “nothing establishes with certainty a link between the destruction by fire and drug trafficking”.
This fire had reignited tensions in the sensitive district of Pissevin, known for its precariousness and drug trafficking. The police office was part of a promise to strengthen public security, after the murder of a 10-year-old boy, Fayed, shot dead in this same neighborhood in August 2023. This new infrastructure, supported by the Minister of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, symbolized a government response to the tragedies and insecurity in the neighborhood.
