The mayor of a Paris suburb has described an attack on his home while his wife and children slept as “an assassination attempt” – as riots, looting, and extreme violence continue in France after the police shot a 17-year old dead this week.
“At 1:30 a.m., while I was at the city hall like the past three nights, individuals rammed their car upon my residence before setting fire to it to burn my house, inside which my wife and my two young children slept,” the Mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Vincent Jeanbrun, said in a statement.
“While trying to protect the children and escape the attackers, my wife and one of my children were injured.”
Mr Jeanbrun said he had been in his office hen the attack on his home occurred at 1.30am today (Sunday).
The attackers used a car to ram through the gates of their home – and then set the vehicle on fire so that the house would burn, the mayor said.
When his wife, Melanie Nowak, attempted to escape with their children, who are aged five and seven, the attackers targeted them with firework rockets.
Mr Jeanburn said that his wife suffered a broken leg and that one of their children was injured.
He described the attack as “a murder attempt of unspeakable cowardice”.
“A line has been crossed,” he said.
“If my priority today is to take care of my family, my determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than before,” he added.
Home of French mayor ram-raided and torched by rioters while his wife & children were asleep inside.
Mayor said he was not at home but his wife & one of their two children, aged five and seven, were injured as they fled the building in the early hours.#FranceRiots pic.twitter.com/9DxdOZztKe
— Asmat Mallick (@AsmatMallick) July 2, 2023
🇫🇷 Rioters rammed a car into the home of the mayor of a town south of #Paris, injuring his wife and one of his children.
L'Haÿ-les-Roses Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun said that protesters "rammed a car" into his home, before "setting a fire".@lizakaminov reports👇#nahel #nanterre pic.twitter.com/nDIcHw7tSo
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) July 2, 2023
Mayor Jeanbrun said that he had “no words strong enough to describe his emotion towards the horror of this night” – thanking the police and rescue services for their assistance.
Visiting L’Haÿ-les-Roses today after the attack on the mayor’s home, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said that no violence would go unpunished, and that the authorities would deal with those responsible with the “utmost severity”.
Créteil public prosecutor Stephane Hardouin said that an investigation into attempted murder following the ramming attack has been opened – and that a preliminary investigation had uncovered evidence that the intention of ramming the care into the house was to set the residence ablaze.
“To attack the life of an elected representative and that of his family is to attack the nation,” President of the Senate Gérard Larcher wrote on Twitter.
More than 700 people were detained across France overnight the Interior Ministry said.
The Ministry said that 45 police officers and gendarmes had been injured overnight, while 74 buildings including 26 police and gendarmes stations were damaged and 577 vehicles set on fire.
The previous night, more than 1,300 people were detained and 2,560 fires reported on public roads.
‘This is clearly an entire group of people who are saying “I’m going to use this as an excuse to rob, to steal, to loot, to burn, to destroy” I don’t think there can be a justification for that.’
Darren Grimes shares his dismay at protesters in France. pic.twitter.com/5vHf5Vl1dx
— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 2, 2023