“The parking meters were the target of the demonstrators”: the town hall of Toulouse recounts the damage of the Yellow Vests
Sacha Briand, deputy mayor and vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of finance, reacts to the decision of the administrative court on compensation for damage caused by the demonstrations of yellow vests. Interview.
You asked for nearly four million euros in compensation. You will eventually receive three less. Are you showing up as a loser?
No, because when we went to the administrative court, we had identified all the damage. The court decided to dismiss some of them. We will examine the judgment, see if it satisfies us. If not, we recommend appealing. Sometimes, certain aspects are poorly taken into account by the judge. But it is already a satisfaction to see this decision. It was neither for the city nor for the metropolis to pay.
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Has all the damage caused by the demonstrations of the Yellow Vests been repaired?
All damage is repaired over time. I am thinking above all of parking meters, which have often been the target of demonstrators. This summer, we cleaned up the last trace of their manifestation. The resin projection on the facade of the capitol was very complicated to clean. The resin used was very aggressive, we didn’t want to destroy the support.
For several months now, demonstrations have been taking place in the city center. What is the cost of the damage they caused?
The difficulty is the same as we had with the Yellow Vests demonstrations. We must remove that we had to add resources for our maintenance and cleaning service. But the damage is limited compared to the protests three years ago.
Emmanuel Macron was re-elected. Do you fear the return of the Yellow Vests?
This worries us in view of the recurring nature of many weeks and months. The public domain has been heavily impacted. And the local economy even more. Traders have suffered. The people of Toulouse told us about their strong dissatisfaction at not being able to enjoy the city center on Saturday afternoon. It is hoped that the demonstrations will not regain the rhythm.
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