They will end up getting to know the Breton capital well. This weekend, CRS 8 police officers arrived in Rennes, where they were deployed in the Maurepas district. Specializing in urban violence, this unit was deployed to secure this popular district of Rennes, the scene of a double homicide perpetrated on Tuesday March 28. That evening, a man wearing a motorcycle helmet opened fire using an automatic weapon under the arches of the Gros Chêne slab. Two men from Guyana and Martinique, aged 28 and 34, died. A third individual was seriously injured in this probable settling of scores against the backdrop of drug trafficking.
On Saturday, the prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine, Emmanuel Berthier, went to greet the CRS 8 on his arrival in the district. The objective of the company is to secure the neighborhood but also to fight against drug traffickers by harassing dealers. The CRS 8 had already gone to Rennes a fortnight ago because of the violence committed on the sidelines of the demonstrations against the pension reform. Violent clashes had broken out between individuals from the radical left and the police. The mayor, Nathalie Appéré, had called on the Ministry of the Interior to send reinforcements to secure the demonstrations.
The investigation into the Maurepas double homicide is still ongoing. After the events, the inhabitants of the district had expressed their distress and their fear in the face of the omnipresence of drug traffickers. At the scene of the murders, around twenty young people spend their days under the arcades, their faces hidden under masks or hoods. “They are hooded or masked, we only see their eyes. They’re sitting there, in front of the elevator. Nobody talks to them,” said one resident.