While the town hall of Blanc-Mesnil has announced that it is canceling an event to repair degraded municipal equipment, the town hall of Garges-lès-Gonesse is maintaining the festivities.
Avoiding tensions without penalizing the inhabitants: this is the difficult puzzle of many municipalities affected by the riots following the death of the young Nahel, 17, killed by a police officer on Tuesday June 27 in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) .
In Garges-lès-Gonesse, in Val-d’Oise, the festivities for July 14, including the traditional fireworks display, have been suspended. “We have canceled events that could be of a nature to bring people from outside Garges, crowd events. On the other hand, all neighborhood, associative events, which really concerned people in the neighborhood or from the city, were maintained”explains Benoît Jimenez, mayor (UDI) of Garges-lès-Gonesse.
Exit the Nations Cup for example, which was to attract thousands of people to the town. Because if calm has returned, the city has been particularly affected by the violence. Part of the town hall was burned down on June 29. However, Benoît Jimenez prefers to put the events into perspective: “When the town hall burns because 25 people have decided to burn it down, just before it happens, I have an international boxing gala on the forecourt of the Hôtel de Ville which brings together 1,500 people and who sing the Marseillaise to a young person from my home who is winning a WBC belt (one of the most famous boxing federations, editor’s note).”
For the elected official, the City’s policy is effective and must be continued. While waiting for the final assessment of the damage, he hopes that the various aids announced (State, Region or Metropolis of Greater Paris) will make it possible to cover this unforeseen expense which will be “an effort that we did not see coming and which will inevitably put us in difficulty”continues the aedile.
The city of Blanc-Mesnil, in Seine-Saint-Denis, has canceled its summer beach and its activities planned for three weeks from Saturday to carry out “savings” which will be used to pay for the damage caused during the riots.
“In view of the extent of the damage caused during the riots, ‘Beach Mesnil’ is canceled this year. Municipal equipment will be repaired with the savings made”indicates on its website the municipality Libres!.
“We know that in working-class neighborhoods, the right to vacation is rare. We are canceling an initiative that brings joy to an already weakened population”regretted to AFP the deputy of the constituency, Soumya Bourouaha (PCF). “The mayor penalizes part of the population for a few rioters, it’s a collective punishment”added the chosen one.
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