Young French people do not light fireworks on New Year’s Eve. What they think is cool is setting cars on fire.
The comments expresses the writer’s opinions.
Last year, the party was ruined by a corona ban. This year, a full pot is expected again, ie about 30,000 car bonfires around the country.
The authorities are once again preparing for the worst. It also does not only apply to cars. But bus shelters, shop windows and / or schools.
It obviously gives an enormous satisfaction to see the flames rise into the sky. The tradition, for that is what it has become, can be traced all the way back to the 1990s.
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The big reference, however, is the uprising in the suburbs in 2005. It lasted for several weeks and affected the whole country.
I was out among the rebels several times and asked them why they were so preoccupied with just burning cars. There was a lot of frustration about not being able to afford a car myself, but also something more, more diffuse.
Destroy other people’s property, enjoy watching it go up in flames… There were many reasons, just like for pyromaniacs.
Symbol
But car fires are much more than psychiatry. They are a symbol, something revolutionary.
France is generally a revolutionary country, which regularly experiences social upheavals. In the latter, the protesters wore yellow reflective vests. During almost every strike or protest movement, protesters burn car tires. And now cars are burning. Every fire is registered, it is important for the insurance.
But it also means a public count. And then you compare with previous years. It becomes an element of competition from year to year. It’s a sport to touch or preferably beat last year’s record.
To avoid this, try to silence the number of car fires. Which is amazingly large in other countries: 73,000 in the UK for example.
Here you can read more comments by Vibeke Knoop Rachline
Insurance fraud
Attempts have also been made at European level to explain why the phenomenon is so large.
A cause has nothing to do with symbolism or psychiatry years. It’s about insurance.
Some car owners like to see the insurance item go up in smoke, apparently by “uncontrolled individuals”, so they can collect the insurance.
In practice, it can consist of setting fire to the fuse itself. In addition, there are cars that may have been used for various more or less shady purposes. Then it can be important to let flames erase all traces. We have also seen this in countless crime series.
Film
The film “The Pyroman” by Erik Skjoldbjærg is an excellent study of what a pyromaniac is, how he is fascinated by the flames he himself has lit – and even participates in the extinguishing work.
The desire to ignite something in French youth hardly goes that deep. They are probably doing more to annoy the police and achieve a buzz in the media.
Nevertheless, they have something of the pyromaniac in them: social maladaptation, sexual frustration and not least a revolutionary urge that is deep in many French people.
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It must be added that fireworks are reserved for local authorities and the fire brigade, so you can not fire a rocket instead.
I add that this year 100,000 police officers will be mobilized to try to prevent a new record being set this year. But they can hardly be everywhere, because this is a very widespread phenomenon all over the country.
But not in Paris. CNN’s reporter reported during the 2005 uprising that the Eiffel Tower burned. It was real “fake news”, and he had to officially apologize.
You do not shave the chestnuts out of the fire for good news. Although of course it is the one people remember best…
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