A tram burned in Clamart, during riots linked to the death of Nahel, on June 29, 2023 in the south-west of Paris (AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND)
Targeted Wednesday evening during the riots which agitated the region, and for fear of new incidents, the trams and buses of Ile-de-France stopped circulating at 9:00 p.m. this Thursday, while other agglomerations took similar precautionary measures, forcing millions of travelers to hastily organize.
“The decision is taken in conjunction with the police headquarters and transport operators in the Ile-de-France region: buses and trams will not run this evening from 9 p.m., to ensure the protection of agents and travelers”, tweeted the president of ‘Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), Valérie Pécresse.
“Our transports are not targets for thugs and thugs!”, Added the elected (LR), also president of the regional council.
The main operator in the region, the RATP, had specified that its trams and buses would gradually stop until 9:00 p.m., inviting travelers to “anticipate their movements”. “The Metro and RER networks should circulate normally”, according to its press release.
A tram burned in Clamart, during riots linked to the death of Nahel, on June 29, 2023 in the south-west of Paris (AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND)
Night buses will obviously not run, nor will the replacement buses provided where the RER and suburban train lines are under construction (B, E, J, L, P, etc.).
The decision to halt all surface public transport in the capital region early is more drastic than Ms Pécresse had originally called for. She suggested limiting this restriction to neighborhoods affected by the violence.
“There are risks tonight and tonight and I will not put drivers or travelers at risk, despite the inconveniences that this may represent for the population”, she had justified.
– “The catenary suffered” –
The decision was taken by the State, within the framework of the interministerial crisis unit, according to the Ministry of Transport.
A tram burned in Clamart, during riots linked to the death of Nahel, on June 29, 2023 in the south-west of Paris (AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND)
On Wednesday evening, the riots in reaction to the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed on Tuesday by a police officer during a road check in Nanterre, hit Ile-de-France transport hard.
A T6 tram on tires was stoned in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine) before being set on fire and destroyed.
IDFM also identified 11 burnt buses.
“All that is (…) millions of public money from working-class neighborhoods gone up in smoke, it’s irresponsible, it’s culpable, and it has to stop”, launched Ms. Pécresse during a a field visit.
A train from the T9 tram was also hit by mortar fire and another from the T10 – inaugurated last Saturday – was the victim of a fire starting after a Molotov cocktail was thrown inside, according to a spokesperson.
In Saint-Denis on line T5, garbage fires damaged the guide rail. In Montfermeil (Seine-Saint-Denis), “the catenary suffered” because of a fire on the route of the T4, according to a spokeswoman for the SNCF.
These incidents did not cause any injuries, but drivers were taken to task, even molested, denounced the spokesperson of IDFM.
Service interruptions were planned for Thursday evening in other cities, such as Clermont-Ferrand, where the joint transport union announced “that due to recent events” public transport will no longer be provided from 10:00 p.m.
In the middle of the evening, traffic on a dozen bus and tram lines in the Lyon area was disrupted due to “incivility”, the TCL network (Tansports en commun lyonnais) said on twitter. Some tram stations, in Vénissieux or Saint-Priest, in eastern Lyon, are no longer served.
In the Centre-Val de Loire, in Tours, there will be no bus and tram from 10 p.m., just like in Orléans where the two tram lines will be stopped at the same time.
In the Lille metropolis, buses and trams were to stop running at 8:00 p.m., on “recommendations from the prefecture and the police”, the manager Ilevia had indicated at the end of the afternoon. Tram traffic also ended at 8:00 p.m. in Valenciennes.
In the Bordeaux metropolis, the TBM transport network announced on Thursday afternoon the interruption of traffic on line C towards the Matmut Atlantique stadium, where a concert by the group Muse is being held, after violence over the past two evenings which resulted in tram breaks.
bur-liu-zap-kal-zl-mam-nal/jbo/cbn
© 2023 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
