2020 Dijon riots
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 2020 Dijon riots | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Grésilles, Dijon, where the riots occurred | ||||
| Date | 11–17 June 2020 (6 days) | |||
| Location | ||||
| Caused by | A Chechen attacked by North Africans | |||
| Methods | Rioting | |||
| Parties | ||||
| Number | ||||
| ||||
| Casualties | ||||
| Injuries | at least 10[1] | |||
The 2020 Dijon riots took place in Dijon, in the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté for four consecutive days.
On June 10, a 16-year-old Chechen boy was assaulted by French-Arab drug dealers from low-income district of Grésilles in Dijon which has a predominant population of North Africans.[2] Members of the Chechen community reportedly posted about the incident on social media and urged people to come to the city in the boy's defense.[3] The incident amplified tensions between the Chechens and North Africans.[4]
Riots
In retaliation of the assault, approximately 150-200 Chechens from France, Belgium, and Germany stormed the neighborhood of Grésilles.[5][6] The people participating wore hoods to conceal their identity and brandished clubs.[7] They shot in the air, destroyed surveillance cameras, and set garbage bins as well as vehicles on fire.[2] Videos of the individuals were posted on social media, with some videos depicting people walking the street armed with machine guns, baseball bats and metal rods.[8]
These tensions continued throughout the weekend, but on Monday the interior minister ordered police reinforcements to terminate the situation and announced that the government would manage the crisis. There were helicopters, dozens of police vans, and firefighters attempting to deescalate the violence. However, in their attempts to break up the fighting and end the riots, police did not un-holster their guns.[3] The administration approximated that ten individuals had been injured.[2][4]
