Urban violence in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps after motorcycle-police collision: eight injured
Clashes between dozens of young people and police forces erupted in the night of 19 to 20 July in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. Eight police officers injured, five arrests.
Night of riots near Tours after collision between motorcycle and police vehicle
Clashes between police forces and "several dozen young people" erupted in the night of Saturday to Sunday in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, a municipality in the Tours conurbation, according to ouest-france.fr. The cause: a collision between a motorcycle and a police vehicle, which left the motorcycle driver seriously injured in the leg.
The incident began on Saturday around 19:00, when police officers intervened over disturbances linked to motorcycle stunts in the area. "During the intervention, one of the motorcycles was struck by a police vehicle," the Indre-et-Loire prefecture stated in a statement. The motorcyclist, hospitalised, is not in danger of death. The police officer driving the vehicle has been placed in custody.
Eight members of the police forces were injured during the urban violence, which continued until 4 a.m. Several vehicles—police, administrative and private—were set on fire. Police officers came under projectile attacks and firework mortar fire, whilst barricades were erected and fires lit in several streets.
Around a hundred police officers and gendarmes were deployed to the scene. The clashes spread to certain districts of Tours and Joué-les-Tours.
Five people were arrested for "participation in an unlawful gathering," Tours prosecutor Catherine Sorita-Minard told the Agence France-Presse. An investigation was also opened for "road injuries" to establish the exact circumstances of the collision, the Tours public prosecutor's office stated.
The town hall of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps indicated that no municipal buildings had been damaged and issued a call for calm on its Facebook page. "Things are calm this morning," it added on Sunday. The municipality is calling for "the circumstances of this accident to be clarified as soon as possible."
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)