The Rennes prosecutor’s office announced on Monday, April 11, that it had opened a flagrant investigation after the violence and damage that took place the evening before in the center of this city, after the announcement of the electoral results.
This investigation opened on Sunday evening “targets the heads of serious damage to property of public interest and private property during demonstrations on the public highway”, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the Rennes prosecutor’s office, specifying that the penalty incurred was five years and a fine of 75,000 euros. According to the prosecution, “various damages were committed during the evening” in the center of the Breton metropolis.
In Rennes, Jean-Luc Mélenchon came out on top with 36.31%, ahead of Emmanuel Macron (29.47%) and Marine Le Pen 7.29%, far from his national score. Shortly after the announcement of the results, around 500 people, mostly young people, some wearing hoods, set up barricades, defaced bank fronts, broke shop windows or bus shelters, or tagged numerous walls, observed an AFP journalist.
Anti-capitalist slogans
Among the tags listed were “The youth fucks national fascism, Le Pen fascist dynasty”, “Burn the Right”, “Social War”. The demonstrators also chanted anti-capitalist and anti-extreme right slogans.
Clashes in Rennes after the announcement of the results https://t.co/REj3jwsU6x
Youri (first name changed at his request), one of the 21-year-old protesters, told an AFP journalist:
“In five years, Macron has broken everything and there we recast him on the second turn… We are pissed off and we only have that to express ourselves: fire and breaking things. »
Roxane, a 21-year-old protester, explained:
“We need measures that correspond to what people want and not just an upper class that imposes without arguments… want more of this. »
The socialist mayor of Rennes, Nathalie Appéré, had reacted to this violence on her account Twitter :
“I strongly condemn the damage committed this evening in the city center of Rennes. Democracy is not and it will never be violence or vandalism. »