A total of 847 cars were set ablaze in France in the early hours of the first day of the new year, the Interior Ministry said, with hundreds of people detained over the destruction.
The mass burning of parked vehicles has become an infamous and much lamented ‘tradition’ in France, where hundreds of vehicles are torched almost every New Year’s Eve.
This year, however, fewer cars were damaged than before, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who attributed the decrease to a bigger police presence and speedy action by relevant public services.
Darmanin thanked police and civil security personnel on Twitter for the “decrease in violence.” Despite the efforts of security officials, hundreds of cars were still set ablaze – but Darmanin noted the number was smaller than in 2019, when more than 1,300 vehicles were torched.
Source: AA
