945 Cars Were Torched Across France Over New Year But Interior Minister Says Things Went 'Particularly Well'

When nearly 1000 cars have been damaged or destroyed by deliberate new year’s eve fires across France, we wouldn’t say the evening has gone “particularly well.” But, bizarrely, that’s exactly how the French Interior Minister has described the latest night in a growing French ‘tradition’.

In a staggering display of stereotypical French nonchalance, Bruno Le Roux seemed completely oblivious to the fact that 945 cars had been either completely gutted or suffered collateral damage thanks to arson, instead praising the security forces for doing such a good job.

The interior ministry had claimed ‘only’ 650 cars had been set alight, deliberately ignoring those that had been parked next to the original burning vehicle and claiming a massive reduction in the destructive end-of-year trend.

The department said the night went off “without any major incident,” but we’d call the collective incineration of more than 900 cars a pretty major problem.

Various quarters of the media saw through the feeble attempt to minimise the issue and unearthed the real figures for damage caused. Luckily, only one firefighter was injured in tackling the blazes.

The Telegraph reports that the tradition started around Strasbourg in the 1990s, apparently in areas of high immigrant populations. The newspaper says it caught on among “disaffected youths” and is seen as a barometer of general social dissatisfaction among younger or poorer French people.

Still, there’s no reason to go torching people’s cars. Let’s hope good sense prevails next year and this madness dies down.