The night of New Year’s Eve saw a decrease in violence, the number of burnt cars and attacks by the police compared to 2019, according to a report drawn up on Saturday by the Ministry of the Interior. The year 2020 was not taken into account due to the curfew in place.
In total, 874 cars were set on fire in France against 1,316 in 2019. On the other hand, the number of people arrested is on the rise (441 against 376 in 2019) as that of people placed in police custody (381 against 314).
Violence in Strasbourg, verbalizations in Paris
“The night of New Year’s Eve saw a decrease in violence thanks to the device of the police,” tweeted the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin. Some 95,000 police and gendarmes were mobilized in France, including 9,000 in Paris, as well as 32,000 firefighters and civil security actors.
In Strasbourg, the night was marked by “strong activity” and violence against the police (fireworks, attempted barricades), and 13 people were arrested, according to a police source.
In Paris, where the prefecture has made it again compulsory to wear a mask in the streets to counter the outbreak of Covid-19 cases, 779 people were fined during the night from Friday to Saturday for “not wearing a mask”, a indicated a police source, including at least 600 on the Champs-Élysées.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the police “enforced the instructions for limiting gatherings”.
In Yonne, a banned rave party still gathered 1,500 people on Saturday morning on an industrial site in Saint-Florentin, according to the prefecture and the gendarmerie.
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