Every year, local authorities sound the alarm. Several elected officials from Loiret called on the State on Thursday to “take its responsibilities” in the face of the nuisances suffered by the residents ofan annual gathering of some 40,000 Travelers members of an evangelical ociation in Nevoy (Loiret), on land which usually accommodates half of them. Organized each year by the evangelical ociation Life and Light, this event must be held until Sunday.
“Before the Covid, we had between 15,000 and 20,000 pilgrims. (…) 40,000, that creates a lot of nuisance. We are not equipped to receive so many people. The population is overwhelmed, there will be a tragedy one day, “said the DVC mayor of Gien, near Nevoy, Francis Cammal. “It’s total anarchy”, regretted the elected official, referring to wild connections to the water and electricity networks, as well as participants doing their business in the paths, green spaces and private land of the agglomeration. “People don’t understand that we let it happen, but we don’t have the hand. The state must ume its responsibilities to reduce the number of participants. 40,000 is not manageable,” he insisted.
The prefect of Loiret Régine Engström went there on Wednesday. The prefecture indicated on Thursday that the device had 250 gendarmes to supervise 38,000 participants. The military carried out nearly 4,000 vehicle checks, noted 177 traffic offenses and issued 56 fines for abandoning waste, said the prefecture.
“Do not wait for a tragedy before acting”, added the RN deputy for Loiret Mathilde Paris. “What comes back is the droppings. (…) If it weren’t for that, I think it would p, ”she said. “Gien has 13,000 inhabitants: 40,000 people who suddenly land, the city is not able to absorb”, estimates the elected, also asking the State to establish a gauge in the future .
“The Giennois is not on fire either”
On the side of Life and Light, Pastor Joseph Charpentier described a much less gloomy situation. “It is certain that whatever the nature of the pilgrims, 40,000 participants in a small rural town, it creates an embarrment. (…) The Giennois is not on fire either. There are 250 gendarmes present. It is not organized anarchically,” he said. Regarding the health aspect, the pastor explained that he had installed a hundred toilets on the ociation’s grounds. “I have a team of 12 people listening to mayors and residents, who will clean on demand when land is soiled,” he insisted.
On Tuesday, this situation almost degenerated, according to the mayor of Gien: an octogenarian was arrested after shooting in the air in the direction of a group of travelers entering his land to relieve themselves there, he said. he ures. In police custody, the man “indicated having shot in the air, without intention of hurting anyone”, confirmed the public prosecutor of Montargis Jean-Cédric Gaux. “There are no injuries” and the octogenarian will be tried in November for “violence with a weapon, without incapacity”.