French Burn Fewer Cars Than Usual On New Year’s Eve Due To Pandemic

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French Burn Fewer Cars Than Usual On New Year’s Eve Due To Pandemic

January 2nd, 2022

Awake Goy

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that appeared in decline this year, which saw only 874 vehicles burned.

The number of cars burned overnight has declined compared to New Year’s Eve 2019 when 1,316 vehicles went up in flames, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday on Twitter.

A picture taken on January 1, 2022 in a car breakers yard shows burnt-out cars collected by city employees after the New Year's Eve in the eastern French city of Strasbourg. — A picture taken on January 1, 2022 in a car breakers yard shows burnt-out cars collected by city employees after the New Year’s Eve in the eastern French city of Strasbourg.

Fewer arson attacks occurred because of massive police presence on cities’ streets this New Year’s Eve, enforcing law and order and restrictions on public gatherings and wearing face masks as infections driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant surge, he said.

There is no information on burned cars last year because of a nation-wide lockdown in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Like many countries, France sees cars set on fire during the year for many reasons, including gangs hiding clues of their crimes and people making false insurance claims.

But car-torching took a new step in France when it became a way to mark the arrival of the New Year. The practice reportedly began in earnest among youths – often in poor neighborhoods – in the 1990s in the region around Strasbourg in eastern France.

It also became a voice of protest during the fiery unrest by despairing youths from housing projects that swept France in the fall of 2005. At the time, police counted 8,810 vehicles burned in less than three weeks.

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