Sporadic violence and arrests in Lyon and Tours

Sporadic violence broke out on Saturday in Lyon and its suburbs or in Tours. The police made a few arrests, AFP learned on Sunday from security sources. They come after several days of “blockade” of hundreds of high schools in France, marked by the beginnings of riots, without it being possible at this stage to make a link between the two.

In Vaulx-en-Velin and in the Lyon district of La Duchère, gatherings punctuated by violence occurred in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday, said a security source, confirming information from the regional daily Le Progrès. “These were spontaneous movements which were very quickly channeled by the police,” adds the security source, specifying that three people were arrested. No notable deterioration was noted.

Later in the evening, still in the Lyon metropolitan area, similar violence occurred in Saint-Priest, which had already been the scene of violence on Friday evening, and where two people were then arrested. Saturday evening, around sixty people were dispersed by the police who did not carry out any arrests, details the same source, confirming information from Lyon Capitale.

In Tours, the prefecture indicates that a “hundred masked, hooded individuals” came towards the city center at the start of the evening on Saturday “with the desire to do battle”. They were stopped by security forces. Some trash cans and self-service bikes were burned.

The prefecture also spoke to AFP of “similar configurations with the evening of Friday evening”, where violence had already taken place. Four people were arrested, Tours public prosecutor Catherine Sorita-Minard told AFP. Two people had already been arrested.