In this video, we see the start of fire on the Peugeot 307. And around it, mortar fire and tear gas bombs.
“It started like clockwork,” says Francis Corbeau, 86, about his Peugeot 307, which he found in ashes. On the night of Thursday December 12 to Friday December 13, two cars burned square Jean-Mermoz. “Collateral damage linked to clashes and mortar fire» assures a resident of the same building.
Between the Marie-Coraline and Marie-Louise residences, around half past midnight, there was first mortar fire. The police responded with tear gas. “It started with a tire from the Peugeot 307, but it was not an intentional fire,” explains the witness, “who simply said what he saw from his window.
Still, Francis Corbeau’s car caught fire little by little. The fire spread to the car parked next to it. “Another resident just had time to remove his car,” confides Francis Corbeau, who has lived here since his retirement in 2001.
“Insurance won’t help because my car is too old”
With his son Frédéric, they are preparing to file a complaint at the Compiègne police station. “The car is insured but he won’t get anything,” the son laments for his father. “It was used by me to go shopping,” says the octogenarian.
He remembers the scene. He said he saw firefighters being “stoned” and “having to leave the scene.” Information contradicted by his neighbor. “The firefighters never came here when it was burning,” he assures. Certainly because the police did not authorize their intervention, due to a possible ambush.”
Francis Corbeau has already lost a car in the same conditions. “The car of a lady who was visiting a neighbor was set on fire,” he remembers. Mine was right next door.”
A resident of the building adjacent to the fire sticks his head out of the window. “I had to leave my apartment because of the toxic smoke coming through the vents,” said the 74-year-old man. On the wall, the blisters testify to the heat of the flames.
