940 cars burned, 251 people were arrested during New Year # 39; s celebrations in France
940 cars torched in France at New Year celebrations.
A firefighter extinguished a burning car during the celebration of New Year's Eve in Lille 1 January 2012 Pascal Rossignol Reuters.
940 cars were torched across France by frenzied revelers as they welcomed the arrival of the new year, according to the Ministry of Interior France.
The wave of arson - part of a bizarre and dangerous tradition commonly reported in mass celebrations and events in the country - was in fact a 12 improvement New Year festivities last year, when 1,067 cars were torched despite warnings from the government, the act remains a popular to mark the passage of the old and the new arrival.
Pierre-Henry Brandet, spokesman for the Interior Ministry told the French channel BFM TV that the burning of the car was more common in eastern France and in the Paris suburbs, especially in the suburbs of ghettos Seine-Saint-Denis, which were the epicenter of riots protesting against police brutality in 2005 which resulted in the burning of more than 10,000 cars.
There was not one major incident, Brandet said, attributing the fire to the excessive consumption of alcohol and public demonstrations of indignation.
There were a total of 308 arrests of alleged arsonists in the New Year celebrations this year as opposed to last year when 322 were detained for the same offense.
According to the French daily Le Figaro the French driver has an average of five days to report the incident if their car was burned in the New Year revelries for their insurance company to cover costs, while some contracts do not even cover car owners against being burned by a foreigner because of their frequency.
burning car has become a civil matter in France and the Ministry of Justice has also established a precedent for compensating victims of crime themselves, if they are not able to pay the insurance and recorded as low-income less than 25 000 per year.
On the other hand, the con artists dangerous habit also given the opportunity to make money by setting fire to their own cars or arrange for someone else to do it for them, or for the purpose of insurance or welfare fraud.
According to the French local newspaper Le Dauphine Libere in 2011 a man in Avignon, in southern France, paid two of his friends to put his old BMW ablaze, hoping he would claim a large sum in compensation which three could divide and start the new year, all the better.
After the three were found all they had to share was fined 100 and schedule a hearing for attempted fraud.
Insurers and law enforcement cite similar incidents as the reason for drivers whose cars are attacked by incendiary revelers trying to keep track of as much as possible on the attacker and event details to prove that their application is indeed authentic.
940 cars torched in France at New Year Celebrations, cars torched, France, year.