the mayor of Saint-Gratien asks the inhabitants to denounce the thugs

Contents

“Neutrality is seen as complicity”
“A republican burst” for the city councilor
A risk of slanderous denunciation?

In a press release addressed to the inhabitants of Raguenets, the mayor assures that the inhabitants “are no longer ready to pay for the degradations perpetrated by gangs of young minors that the parents do not supervise”.

This is a statement that had gone a little unnoticed until now and noticed by The Parisian. The mayor of Saint-Gratien (Val-d’Oise) spoke last Friday in a letter to the inhabitants of Raguenets, a sensitive area of the town, after the riots in the city.

As in many towns in France, Saint-Gratien was the scene of scenes of violence. Julien Bachard, mayor of the town since 2017, replacing Jacqueline Eustache-Brino, elected senator, explains that the “climax” was reached “with the arson of the Camille Claudel cultural center”, “the attack on the shops of Raguenets shopping center” and the “deterioration of the Raguenets playground”.

“Neutrality is seen as complicity”

So he believes that today “all this must stop”. For him, “every inhabitant, every parent must feel concerned” by the situation. And to launch: “Who will pay for the restoration of all this burnt, broken, looted equipment? “.

If for the moment, he has no answer, Julien Bachard has decided that the authors will not go unpunished. And for that, he asks for the help of the inhabitants of the district. “It is the responsibility of each of you to communicate to us the information at your disposal”, judges the city councilor.

“The threshold of tolerance is largely exceeded and now neutrality is considered complicity,” the statement said.

And to be sure of having answers, the mayor goes even further and threatens. “No reconstruction work will be undertaken (…) until we have the names of the authors”.

“A republican burst” for the city councilor

He justifies his request by explaining that, “has always been”, the municipality “invests in quality public facilities, whether cultural, educational, early childhood or associative”.

He claims to have “spent more money and more time on this area than on other areas of the city, to make it pleasant” and that it is now “essential” that parents keep their children at home on evening.

A request heard according to Julien Bachard, questioned by The Parisian. “We call information and they start to arrive because we can’t always be told, we know who knows and we don’t say anything. There is a republican burst, ”rejoices SamaGameted official, who does not wish to speak of denunciation and defends himself from stigmatization.

“If I sent the letter only to Raguenets, it’s because there was no problem elsewhere in the city. But we know that the first victims are the inhabitants of the district, ”continues the latter.

A risk of slanderous denunciation?

In town, reactions are divided. Some welcome the decision. ” It is very good. I hope we’re not going to rebuild. People have known about it for too long but haven’t said anything about what’s going on in the neighborhood,” said Élodie, interviewed by the newspaper.

But other residents wonder how to do it and what the results will be. “Apart from stigmatizing, this letter is useless. Worse with this denunciation blackmail, there is a real risk that people will swing anyone, ”explains one of them on a daily basis.

Another resident also raises the fact that young people “can very well come from elsewhere”.

Almost a week after the events, Julien Bachard tempers. “I never said never,” he notes. “But anyway, it’s far too early to talk about reconstruction. We don’t yet have any feedback from the experts, nor any quantification of the damage. We only know that they will cost us dearly and, given the current state of our finances, we cannot afford them”.