Gérald Darmanin wants to toughen up the sale of fireworks 24 hours after the attack on the Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne) police station by around forty assaillants, reported French daily Le Figaro.
Y’a qu’a Champigny tu peux voir le comico se faire allumer comme un 14 juillet 😭 pic.twitter.com/ipeQY7VHQj
— Le Capricieux (@LeCapricieux94) October 10, 2020
One inhabitant told Parisian tabloid Le Parisien: “It’s no longer possible to live here, I spend as little time there as possible, there are too many youths [French euphemism for Arab and African immigrants, ed.] who have nothing else to do but piss off people.”
Darmanin expressed his wish to prohibit, by law, the sale to the public, on the internet, of fireworks which could be considered as “eventual weapons”. For several years already these pyrotechnic devices – intended for fireworks professionals – have in fact been used as projectiles against the police or firefighters.
“I came to Champigny this evening, first to greet the national police officers from this Champigny police station, to say that we were all extremely shocked by the images we saw. […] It is not just any symbol that has been attacked,” declared Gérald Darmanin, before adding: “I hope that in the next law which arrives at the National Assembly on November 19, […] We can define these fireworks, these attacking mortars as a weapon”.
“They can hurt, they can kill, and today we must stop this sale on the internet, sales which are not intended for professionals and that we penalize it,” argued the Minister of the Interior.
Although an authorization is necessary to buy these devices in store. “you can get them on the internet and have them delivered to your home. It’s not very expensive, ” explained the spokesperson for the Unity SGP union. Used against the police, it has become “a tradition in the cities” and “it is the same as an LBD” the unionist explained.
As Europe1 relayed on October 11, the Champigny-sur-Marne police station, is based in a “sensitive district”.
The attack happened as two police officers were taking a cigarette break outside. According to the police, about forty individuals, dressed in hoods and with their faces hidden, appeared. Fortunately, the two police officers were able to take shelter in the security lock at the time of the attack. The assailants nevertheless then attempted to break the armored glass of the front door with an iron bar.
The mayor of Champigny-sur-Marne, Laurent Jeanne told Europe1: “We are dealing with delinquents who want to do battle with the police. The goal was to kill a cop and nothing else.”
A similar act was committed against the same police station last April.
A group of “youths” told Europe1 that the police had injured one of them. However, Laurent Jeanne noted that “nothing has been proven regarding the responsibility” of the police officers in a incident involving a “youth” crashing his scooter. “There is nothing to say today that the police were involved in the fact that this young person was injured on this scooter.” Offenders like to create tension, exacerbated on social networks, he said.
“The little guys do not impress anyone and will not discourage our work against narcotics. Fortunately no one was injured in the attack on the Champigny police station last night. Total support for our police officers who are doing a difficult job,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin responded on Twitter.
“The sentences handed down must be extremely firm, foreigners guilty of offenses or crimes must be returned, at the end of their sentence, to their country of origin!” the president of the National Rally Marine Le Pen said.
The attackers also lit trash fires near the police station. Two police cars and three vehicles seized as part of an investigation were damaged and several windows in the building were smashed. For several days, this district of Champigny-sur-Marne has been the scene of very high tensions.
