Europe 1 / Wednesday 6 March 2019
Some 400 people, according to the police, participated on Tuesday evening in Montpellier, despite a prefectural ban, in the “Karnaval of Gueux “, anarcho-libertarian nocturnal wandering. Seven people were arrested, police said.
Unlike previous years, the procession failed to enter the city centre, protected by several trucks of the forces of order, including a water cannon. The procession, which included a dozen people dressed in yellow vests, wandered the streets around the historical centre of the city, for nearly three hours, to the sound of medieval songs. Several elements of street furniture were damaged by the participants and bins burned.
A scarecrow with the effigy of Philippe Pétel, – former dean of the Faculty of Law of Montpellier forbidden to teach for five years following violence in the faculty in 2018 – was burned in front of the door of the University of Montpellier.
In the late evening, about one hundred people, some of whom were in fancy dress, and wore masks, remained on the place Carnot whose exits were blocked by the police. Some tear gas grenades were launched by law enforcement halfway along the road.
Around 22:30, a dispersal order was issued by the police. This event had been banned by the prefect of Herault Pierre Pouëssel, who had put forward “recurrent overflows” concerning this annual event. In February 2018, a prefectural ban had not prevented the holding of this event.
According to the préfecture, four policemen had been wounded, one seriously in the face, and 200 people had marched through the streets of Montpellier, where degradation of shops, billboards and furniture
had been committed.
According to MidiLibre, […] incidents occurred in the Antigone neighbourhood, where the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. At least one bank was vandalized as well as billboards and tags scattered everywhere. […]
And, according to e-metropolitain, […] six people were arrested, taken to the central police station and placed in police custody for transport of incendiary devices – Molotov cocktails -, according to our information, unlawful inscriptions and tags, rebellion and insulting agents of the police force, depositary of public authority. […]
[Translated by Act for freedom now!]
