France: Rioting in Limoges

You will never guess what happened in Limoges, France last night.

What happened was that about 100 young men engaged in a riot in which police were lured into the Val de l’Aurence quarter of the city by a burning dumpster and then attacked when they responded. The same thing had happened 5 days previously.

As is usual with the European media, there is no real description of the perpetrators, but the Val de l’Aurence quarter of Limoges is one of those areas to avoid, and the attackers were surely not French youths. 

The article below from Le Populaire is translated by Fousesquawk.

New night of urban violence in Limoges: 10 police officers injured and civilians attacked

Five days after an initial night of urban violence in Limoges, a new ambush was set for police, and new, more violent scenes of confrontations took place during the night. Ten police officers were injured, and civilian cars were damaged. “A night of organized, urban warfare,” says the mayor of Limoges, in conjunction with the Minister of Interior, Bruno Retailleau, after this urban violence.

-By Thibaut Dailler

Posted 19 July 2025 at 12:28-Updated 19 July 2025 at 19:13 

Caption: New night of riots in the quarter of Val de l’Aurence

A “copy and paste”, more violent and more traumatizing. Less than a week after an initial night of urban violence in the quarter of Val de l’Aurence in Limoges, when two police officers were injured and an ambush was set for police with a dumpster fire, the scene was reenacted during the night of Friday, 18 (July) to Saturday, 19 July.  

Shortly before 1 am on Saturday, some individuals began by stealing a vehicle and attacking the owners of the vehicle before setting it on fire a little further on, on rue Irene and Frederic Joliot-Cune, in the Val de l’Aurence quarter of Limoges.

A new ambush was awaiting the firefighters and police arriving at the scene, where more than 100 young people then emerged armed with iron bars, baseball bats, fireworks, rocks, and Molotov cocktails.

Barricades were set up on both sides of RN 141, preventing vehicles from entering or leaving Limoges.

10 Police officers injured in the confrontations

“It is no longer just an attack against police as it was Monday, but also an attack against the people of Limoges,” stated Laurent Nadeau, Department Secretary of the National Police Alliance union in Limoges. “For us, there is anger, but also a lot of worry. Hooded, armed youths, (and) we have reached a (new) level of violence”.

According to law enforcement, 10 police officers were injured in the confrontations that lasted almost 2 hours, 9 from hearing (ringing in ears) caused by fireworks, and 1 in the hand.

Contacted by us Saturday morning, the mayor of Limoges, Emile Roger Lombertie, denounced this second night of violence within a few days. “Last night was organized urban warfare. I had alerted the prefecture at the beginning of the week that this would happen again. For 30 years, we have constantly allowed this. One tries to find reasons for each night of this kind, but it is a lawless situation.” 

Reinforcements expected Saturday evening

Emile Roger Lombertie, who spoke with Bruno Retailleau, Minister of Interior, Saturday morning, is giving assurances that reinforcements will arrive Saturday evening with the CRS-8, the elite ultra-mobile unit specialized in urban riots. 

Last night, a surveillance and intervention platoon of the Gendarmerie (Psig), municipal police, and local police arrived in reinforcement to confront and respond to the delinquent youth. More than 100  self-defense ball launcher cartridges (LBD) and tear gas canisters were used by law enforcement. 

An investigation has been opened by the prosecutor’s office

No arrests have taken place as yet. In a press release posted Saturday in the late afternoon, the Public Prosecutor of Limoges. Emilie Abrantes, stated that “8 complaints have been received,” and that, 

“motorists have reported having been attacked by several hooded individuals who damaged their vehicles with blows from baseball bats,” Some vehicles were occupied by minor children in the back. An investigation has been opened by the public prosecutor’s office for “participation in a gathering with weapons, violence against police officers, aggravated extortion, and damage by organized gangs to the property of others by dangerous means.”

For Laurent Nadeau, “this violence is gratuitous, without any motive. This morning (Saturday), we have dozens of complaints in our office, a student who has lost her car and will not be reimbursed, families who have seen their windows damaged, which is regrettable and worrisome.” A press release posted by the police union, Alliance Police, protests against these traps set for police, an illustration of a manifest desire to undermine the order of the Republic.

The mayor of Limoges, who says he is, “just as worried as the people of Limoges,” finds it, “tragic to see young people devastated and lost to themselves and to France.

In a press release posted mid-day Saturday, the prefect of Haute-Vienne, Francois Pesneau, “condemns the events that occurred last night in the strongest terms,” and states that “the crowd was completely dispersed around 4 am.” Before adding: “Judicial investigations are underway under the authority of the Public Prosecutor of Limoges to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice [....] calling for a strong reaction from the public powers”. Finally, the prefect confirms reinforcements deployed during the night Saturday-Sunday in the Val de l”Aurence querter, at the heart of debate for several days.

Source: http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2025/07/france-rioting-in-limoges.html