About 1,000 cars were burned in France during New Year’s celebrations

French Interior Minister Bruno Ritaio said that hundreds of thousands of people celebrated the New Year on the Champs-Elysées in Paris with theatrical performances and music on the famous street, culminating in a fireworks display at the Arc de Triomphe, despite the burning of nearly a thousand cars.
Ritayo announced late on Wednesday that 984 cars caught fire across the country, and 420 people were arrested, of whom police detained 310 people.

Violent celebrations

The minister described the numbers as unacceptable, and said: “This violence is the result of the brutality represented by the crowds, and the outlaws, who attack the property of French people, who are often poor people who do not have the means to protect their vehicles in the private parking lot.”
Initial reports indicated that the celebrations, which were expected to attract about a million people like last year, took place in a largely calm atmosphere.

About 10,000 police officers were deployed in the French capital and special security measures were taken to secure the celebrations across the main street, which was closed to traffic.
In the rest of France as well, the beginning of the year was largely calm, although clashes occurred between revelers and the police in some cities, and a number of cars were set on fire.