Vandalism In Poitiers

Downtown Poitiers was the scene of an eruption of violence of major proportions on Saturday October 10. This article from Slate was linked by Le Salon Beige:

Nearly 300 people claiming to belong to an anti-imprisonment collective entered downtown Poitiers on Saturday October 10 and unleashed a series of acts of destruction and vandalism. Eighteen persons, including "ultra-left-wing" activists, were arrested by police in the wake of exceptionally violent incidents.

The demonstrators broke twenty store-front windows, bus stops, and phone booths, and covered religious monuments such as the Saint-John Baptistery, one of the oldest (fourth century) Christian monuments in France, with hate-filled anarchistic messages.

The rally, announced at several anarchist blogs, was supposed to be a protest against the October 11 transfer of prisoners from the old city prison to the new one. But the prefecture was overwhelmed by the scope of the action. "We were taken by surprise by the violence and the organization," confided Anne Frackowiack, the prefect's chief of staff. "We had a commando operation from the ultra-Left that turned out to be bigger than expected, with activists coming in from other departments," she stressed.

"There were lots of people in town. Suddenly they took out their masks in the middle of the crowd and left in the direction of the prison," throwing projectiles at the police and destroying urban property. A police commissioner was slightly injured in the hand as was an officer from the anti-criminal brigade when a hammer hit his helmet. A salesman from the Bouygues store who tried to intervene was also slightly injured, added Anne Frackowiack. Bouygues was targeted above all since it is the builder of the new prison.

This commando operation was very well planned; as far as the police are concerned the goal of the participants was to "smash" everything. They discovered, in a parking lot, a cache of weapons containing Molotov cocktails, clubs and smoke bombs.

Saturday night concerts were cancelled out of security concerns. The night finally calmed down and the first transfer of prisoners was carried out.

According to Le Salon Beige, government sources did not mention the vandalism of the church.

Those interested can consult my recent posts on Poitiers: on the building of two mosques, and on the beautiful and historic old churches.

The photos are of the Saint-John Baptistery. The one above, of the façade, is from Trivago.