Bus shelters and windows broken, bins burned, barriers piled up, urban fittings dismantled, graffiti on walls, this was the Aurillac city centre spectacle last night after the violent incidents that took place for the first evening of the street theatre festival. According to the news in La Montagne, confirmed by ICI Pays d’Auvergne, it was the interpellation of a young man surprised while spraying on a wall, that set off the violence. A number of festival-goers leapt to his defence, very soon joined by others, some of whom were masked.

The clashes took place in the place du Square, the heart of Aurillac, right next to the narrow streets of the town centre. Police on one side (with a reinforcement of gendarmes), rioters on the other, tear gas grenades against projectiles, to the light of the small fires that had been lit all around, the clashes went on until 3 in the morning. According to police, 300 people participated in the violence. Eight police officers were wounded. No arrests were made.
The international Festival of Theatre of rue d’Aurillac is habitually a place of contestation, sometimes with clashes with police. The violence during the night seem a notch higher even if we mustn’t forget the intrusion into the court and serious damage done inside it in 2023 [see here; NdAtt.].

And Libération, on the same date points out that: The socialist mayor of the region, Pierre Mathonier, also deplored this explosion of violence. «We can’t let these black blocks with anarchist rhetoric destroy our town and our festival», he stressed to AFP. The event hosts 3,000 artists and about 180,000 visitors up until 23rd August. The mayor estimates the damage on the public highway to be between 20,000 and 30,000 euros

Extra from Bleu/ Thursday 21st August 2025

via: attaque translated by Act for freedom now!