Around 650 vehicles were set ablaze in France on New Year’s Eve in what has become a strange tradition in the country.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said: “The number of burned cars shows that this phenomenon, as unacceptable as it is, continues to exist. A total of 650 cars were set ablaze, while last year there were 602 such cases.”
RT reports that locals in the poor areas in France’s east started setting cars alight on New Year’s Eve in the 1990’s as a symbol of protest.
Alongside all the cars that were set alight on New Year’s Eve, Interior Minister Burno le Roux also said that a number of security personnel were “hit with projectiles, or met with aggression or insults.” In response, a total of 454 people were arrested, 301 of which were charged with various offenses.