The prosecution had announced that it had placed five people in custody after the fire. One of them had been seen “throwing a burning garbage can” to “fuel the hearth.”
A suspect was indicted after the arson of the porch of Bordeaux town hall on Thursday evening, during incidents following the demonstration against pension reform, the prosecution announced on Saturday.
The public prosecutor’s office specifies in a press release that it has also requested the “placement in provisional detention” of this man “against whom there were serious and concordant indications of participation in these facts”.
Five arrested
On Friday, the prosecution announced that it had placed five people in police custody after the fire. He said that one of the suspects had been seen “throwing a trash can on fire” to “feed the fireplace” and arrested near the town hall.
“Participation in the facts of fire” has however not been “sufficiently established at this stage” against the four other people placed in police custody, adds the prosecution.
For three of them, adults, he requested an appearance Monday before the criminal court for “participation in an armed crowd and with the face partially or totally concealed”.
The last of the five in custody, who is a minor, “has also been referred for judgment on guilt before the juvenile court”, specifies the prosecution.
The fire lasted about fifteen minutes Thursday evening, damaging the massive wooden door of the building, before being extinguished by firefighters.
Thursday’s demonstration brought together between 18,000 and 110,000 people in Bordeaux, according to the prefecture and the inter-union.
For the first time in Bordeaux since the beginning of the movement against the pension reform as part of a declared procession, tear gas was used Thursday by the police against groups of masked young people throwing projectiles and putting fire at barricades.
These incidents resulted in 16 minor injuries according to the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office, including 12 police officers. Nine people, all adults, were arrested for excesses on the sidelines of the demonstration and were referred on Saturday, said the prosecution.
