Le Parisien / Monday, February 22, 2016
February 22 the site security guard was set upon, sprayed with tear gas, but not injured. The site machinery however went up in smoke. At around 23 hours on Sunday, about thirty delinquents hooded and dressed in dark clothing stormed the base of a construction site by climbing the fence in a row of workshops in Grigny, at one of the entrances to the Grande-Borne estate. The wrongdoers smashed the windows of nine construction machines and set fire to six of them with Molotov cocktails. The material damage is estimated at €1.5 million.
“A construction site worker had tears in his eyes on discovering the burnt machinery,” says a witness. The departmental security is in charge of this investigation apparently related to retaliation against the work of creating a new route through the landlocked estate, which began a week ago.
Concern is shared by the inhabitants. “It’s a shame because the renovation of the neighbourhood will be delayed. Grigny already has a bad image, it adds a little more, regrets a thiry-year old. Yet this opening up will allow fire-fighters to arrive faster. While we will have to pay attention to the children who play outside, because we all grew up like that.” “It bothers a lot of people, this project: those who do business, local residents who fear the sound of two wheels that might pass without stopping, explains another. And parents are concerned about road safety if cars enter the area, it could be dangerous for children who are not accustomed to them. ”
—–
Grigny, place de la Carpe, January 12, 2012. Two vehicles had already been burned by young people who climbed the fence of a construction site.
In January 2012, two construction machines were burned during demolition of place de la Carpe. The procedure was similar to that used on Sunday. That night, around 9 pm, about fifteen intruders climbed the fences behind which construction machinery was parked, threatening the guard and setting fire to the cabins of an excavator and a crane. The next day, a mini-crane was also set on fire. “This work, which will open up the neighbourhood, will impede the dealers” the police already explained at the time.
More recently, on 9 March 2015, two botanists were assaulted at Grande-Borne, when they were intervening to survey the redwoods for their removal to clear the route, where the work has just begun. One of the experts received three stab wounds in broad daylight, the other was targeted with a window glass-hammer. And a worker working on an excavator had stones thrown in his face. The week before, a machine was burned in another Grande-Borne sector.
[Translated by Act for freedom now]
