Arson attacks in Grenoble

The wave of arson attacks in Grenoble is a series of arson attacks that have occurred since March 2017 in the Grenoble metropolitan area, the most publicized of which were those of the warehouse of the Isère Gendarmerie group and the France Bleu Isère radio station. All of these fires were meticulously prepared; some were not claimed, but most were by an anarchist movement. The perpetrators remain unknown to this day, only known the statements in internet.

Arson attacks in Grenoble
Location	Grenoble metropolitan area and its surroundings, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Date	March 2017-present
Attack type	arson attacks
Weapons	Improvised devices, molotov cocktails
Injured	1 policeman

Attacks

2017

As presedent, on January 6, set fire to a nativity scene and the Virgin Mary statue at the Saint Charles Cathedral in Saint-Etienne, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, leaving important material damage. On March 21, 2017, the headquarters of the Les Républicains party in Grenoble was vandalized. After the fact, this attack, claimed by the local anarchists movement, is considered by the Public Prosecutor of Grenoble and Le Dauphiné libéré, as the first in a series of criminal acts mainly consisting of arson. The massive arson attacks that took place in previous years, which were not claimed, were therefore not included in this wave by the Public Prosecutor.

In March 23, targeted seven vehicles of the communal social action center, accused of "co-managing poverty". Five days later, seven other vehicles belonging to Grenoble-Alpes Métropole were burned in the name of "the fight against human resource storage and exploitation sites". On the night of April 11, 185 ticket distributors and validators of the tramway network were put out of service and inscriptions such as "Never validate" were written on the windows of the targeted stations. The three actions were claimed each time by the group "Wild Individualities".

Then eleven Enedis vans, parked in a car park on Rue du Vercors, were set on fire on May 30, causing 300.000 et 400.000 euros of damages. The act was claimed in the following hours by an anti-capitalist and libertarian cell called "Individualités sauvages" (Wild Individualities). On June 8, an Enedis electricity distributor in Crest, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, was set fire leaving important material damage and affected nearly a 165,000 users, being claimed by Wild Individualities. A week later a TDF telecommunications pylon was burned in Piégros-la-Clastre,. There were no reported casualties in the attack. Wild Individualities and Children and Matches (Des enfants et des allumettes) separately claimed responsibility for the attack. On July 18, a TDF base station in Saint-Laurent-sous-Coiron were attacked by members of Wild Individualities. During the summer, premises belonging to Enedis and TDF antennas were targeted in the neighboring departments of Drôme and Ardèche

On September 19, five gendarmerie vehicles were burned in Limoges, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, leaving important material damage. Another fire broke out two days later, destroying around thirty vehicles in a warehouse of more than 1500 m2 (16145.87 square feets) at a gendarmerie barracks car park in Vigny-Musset in Grenoble, leaving one officer intoxicaded by smoking when approach to the area. The Nocturnals and the "Révolte anarchiste contre les gendarmes en exil" (Anarchist Revolt Against Exiled Gendarmes) separately claimed responsibility both attacks and stated that the attack was carried out in support of those currently at trial.

The facts were immediately claimed on an anarcho-libertarian site, already used for similar acts perpetrated in Limoges a few days earlier. A month later, the Meylan gendarmerie, in the suburbs of Grenoble, was the scene of an arson attack in which four cars and a motorcycle were set on fire at the foot of the residential accommodation of this gendarmerie, forcing the 24 occupants to urgently evacuate. Investigators are focusing far-left attackers lead in this fire, but the attack were claimed by a feminist cell, carring the attack to "fight sexism" and "gender" and was perpetrated as a "desire for revenge".

The CCSTI of Grenoble before the fire of November 21, 2017

Weeks later (November 21), the CCSTI of Grenoble to be ravaged by a fire destroying its Fab lab The criminal act, the damage of which is estimated at several million euros. is also claimed on a website close to anarchists circles. In the days that followed, the staff of this center, nicknamed "La Casemate", received numerous testimonies of support, including some from the United States, Norway and Japan. The entire first floor having been destroyed, its reopening is planned for the month of April 2020.

2018

Until 2018, a series of fires in large commercial establishments were the subject of articles in Le Dauphiné libéré; as in previous fires, investigators are exploring all leads. Fires occur in the urban area during the night, such as the one at the DIY store Bricoman of 4000 m2 in Bresson, in the suburbs near Grenoble, on June 23, for which France Bleu Isère mentions a fire of electrical origin, or that of the Euromaster garage of 2000 m2 in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, on the night of December 10- to December 11, which forced the evacuation of 101 people from the neighboring Belledonne clinic in the middle of the night.

In the disaster, 4300 tires in storage go up in smoke, for this last case, the criminal nature of the facts was confirmed in the morning, but without the prosecution being able to establish a link with the previous arson attacks claimed by anarchists.

On September 28, a slaughterhouse was burned in Haut Valromey, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, being claimed by animal rights extremists. It was not until October 8, the warehouse of the company Eiffage, in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, was also targeted and the action was claimed on the site Indymedia Nantes, by the fact that "this company occupies a fundamental function in our prison society" by providing "the material structure necessary for the punishment industry". Seven trucks and four utility vehicles were destroyed, putting 70 people out of work.

2019

In early January 2019, several stairwells were set on fire during the night in building lobbies in the city centre. On the night of 16 to 17 January 2019, the Saint-Jacques church, on rue de Chamrousse, was completely destroyed by a fire, forcing the evacuation of 106 local residents by emergency services. Learning that a text published on Indymedia claimed responsibility for the disaster, the media Place gre'net used humor by titling "Anonymous "short circuits" claim responsibility for the fire at the Saint-Jacques church in Grenoble". but the accidental theory of electrical origin remains nevertheless evoked, the public prosecutor of Grenoble, Eric Vaillant, not excluding an opportunistic claim.

A few days later, during the night of January 27 to January 28, the premises of the France Bleu Isère station on Avenue Félix-Viallet were completely ravaged by a fire of voluntary origin, a door having been broken. The radio frequencies are recovered from 6 am by France Bleu Pays de Savoie, which retraces the events of the night, while France 3 Alpes immediately offers to accommodate the radio staff in its premises. A special broadcast can thus take place from 5:30 p.m., with numerous reactions from listeners and personalities on the phone, including the Minister of Culture Franck Riester. On January 29, a TDF transmitter was set fire in Jarrie, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, being claimed the attack by anarchists.,

France Bleu Isère premises before their fire on January 27, 2019.

On February 12, the advertising display company JCDecaux, located in Fontaine and responsible for maintaining the city's bus shelters, was the target of an arson attack that destroyed 50 m2 of premises and damaged a hundred more by the smoke released. The criminal nature of the incident was confirmed by the authorities at the end of the day, while the next day, the authors of a text published on Indymedia claimed the attack.

In early March, rioters started a fire in a public building, but these events cannot be linked to the ongoing wave of arson attacks. On 17 July, eight cars from the EDF fleet were set on fire.

On September 30, a fire completely destroyed several rooms in the Grenoble City Hall, including the city council building; traces of fuel were discovered on site. A month later, the act was claimed on Indymedia by a text castigating the municipal majority led by the environmentalist Éric Piolle, accused of selling the benefits of the SmartCity and hiding the gloom behind (the) facades of eco-friendly eco-districts. The room will not reopen until May 2024 at a cost of 600,000 euros, which will be borne by the taxpayer.

In the meantime, on October 8, 2019, the prosecutor revealed to the press the criminal nature of the fire at the Saint-Jacques church that occurred in January and reclassifies the facts. Bishop Guy de Kerimel promises to rebuild the church. of which only the bell tower and its cross remained standing, but it will ultimately never be rebuilt in order to make way for 125 housing units.

On November 26, 2019, 350 police officers and gendarmes conducted searches in five squats in Fontaine and Grenoble, known to be frequented by members of the alternative movement and the Yellow Vests, as well as in the ZAD of Roybon Computer equipment was seized and DNA samples were taken from those present. No arrests were made in connection with the wave of damage and fires, but five people were placed in administrative detention center and two were subject to an obligation to leave French territory.

Reactions from political figures

For Laurent Wauquiez, the government is indifferent to these fires. After the fire at the town hall, Alain Carignon, candidate in the 2020 municipal elections in Grenoble, recalled that in April 2017, the security commission issued an unfavorable opinion on the continued operation of the town hall and that, in September 2018, the Regional Audit Office included in its recommendations to "conduct a study quantifying the cost of bringing the town hall up to standard".