A young activist from the ultra-right movement was hit and injured during a hooded parade organized on Saturday evening in Romans-sur-Isère in connection with the death of young Thomas at the end of a ball in Drôme, the authorities announced on Sunday. prefecture.
This young member of the ultra-right, coming from Mayenne, was “taken out of his car by force”, then “beaten up”, his vehicle “burned” and “he was badly bruised”, declared the prefect of Drôme Thierry Devimeux during a press briefing relayed by BFM TV and France 3. “His days are not in danger”, he said, condemning “strongly” the excesses of violence linked to the tragedy of Crépol, a small village where young Thomas, 16, was killed and eight people injured with knives a week ago.
Around twenty arrests
Around a hundred ultra-right activists armed with sticks marched on Saturday evening near the Monnaie district behind a banner “Justice for Thomas, neither forgiveness nor forgetting”, according to images posted on social networks by this movement.
The police pushed back those who had “come to fight” with the young people of the neighborhood; around twenty arrests followed by 17 police custody allowed calm to return, according to a police source. The activists, all young, came from different cities in France, Besançon, Paris, Montpellier or Nantes, according to the same source.
A new unauthorized gathering is planned in the center of Romans-sur-Isère on Sunday
This parade coincided with the presentation to the Valencia prosecutor’s office of the suspects accused of having participated in the violence which led to Thomas’ death. Nine young people, including three minors, were indicted, six placed in detention and three released under judicial supervision.
A new unauthorized gathering is planned in the center of Romans-sur-Isère on Sunday at midday, according to a police source. The police deployed approximately the same system as the day before to prevent possible violence, according to this source.
A rise in tensions since the violence in Crépol
The mayor of the city, Marie-Hélène Thoraval (LR) called on Sunday to “sit around the table and work differently (…) faced with a level of delinquency which calls for other forms of response” in Romans and in other cities, believing that delinquency found “its roots in radicalization” and “drug trafficking”. Fueled by virulent positions taken by the far right and the right on the theme of insecurity and immigration, tensions have risen since the violence in Crépol. On the morning of Saturday, a mosque in Valence received an Islamophobic letter mentioning the tragedy and tags were discovered on the walls of the mosque in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche).
A large white march in memory of Thomas brought together more than 6,000 people on Wednesday in Romans-sur-Isère, before his funeral, celebrated on Friday in the presence of 2,000 people. This weekend, the world of rugby, a sport he played, is paying tribute to him with a minute of silence during all matches.