Twelve people were arrested on Wednesday, July 12, as part of the investigation opened after the ram attack on the home of the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne), who had caused nationwide outrage. They were placed in police custody “to carry out a number of checks”, the Créteil prosecutor’s office told AFP, confirming information from BFMTV. “We remain very cautious” about their actual involvement in the attack, the same source said.
On the night of July 1 to 2, at the heart of the riots caused throughout France by the death of young Nahel, killed on June 27 in Nanterre by a policeman, a burning vehicle was rushed to the pavilion of the mayor, Vincent Jeanbrun ( LR), causing in particular the fire of the family car. Present in the house, the wife of the elected official, the departmental councilor Mélanie Nowak, was injured while fleeing with her two young children. “We cannot say” that there is a link between the riots that took place across the country after the death of young Nahel and the attack on the home of the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, insisted on specifying the prosecution of Creteil.
Entrusted to the judicial police of the department, the investigation was initially opened by the prosecution for attempted murder. It has since been extended to the heads of criminal associations with a view to committing a crime and destroying property by fire in an organized gang. The Créteil prosecutor, Stéphane Hardouin, reported soon after the events that the presence of several individuals at the scene of the attack was “confirmed”.
The investigation mobilizes “about forty dedicated investigators”, said the prosecution. Against a backdrop of clashes between young rioters and law enforcement, looting and destruction of public buildings in many cities, this attack provoked strong emotion throughout the country and the unanimous condemnations of the entire political class. .
On July 3 in the afternoon, more than 2,000 people, including the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher and the President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France Valérie Pécresse had participated, in the small town of 30,000 inhabitants, at a march in support of the mayor.
A Senate report published on Wednesday expressed the wish to strengthen the functional protection of elected officials while increasing the penalties incurred by aggressors. As part of this consultation, 4.8% of elected officials said they had been frequently or sometimes victims of physical attacks or violence since 2020, 25% of threats and 40.5% of incivility or insults.