Several incidents occurred in Woippy near Metz after a scooter accident that left one person dead and two seriously injured.

After a vigil  which was held in  Woippy near Metz in tribute to three young men, one of them who died in the motorcycle accident which happened the previous night, incidents broke out and vehicles were torched. Some 200 people participated in tribute that turned sour.

By early evening, around 9pm,  in front of the police station, the police found themselves confronted by an angry crowd who pelted them with stones. During the evening, at least four cars and a bus were torched. A school and telephone booths were vandalised. The police dispersed a crowd that had formed. At about 11pm, the incidents in Woippy ceased.

The motorcycle accident, occurred between  three youths around 1:30 on Wednesday. The youths who were riding without helmets and no lights on a stolen motorcycle and were chased by a police vehicle. The scooter riders attempted to evade law enforcement by riding the wrong way down a one-way street  explained Metz prosecutor, Rémi Heitz. The area is covered by video surveillance cameras, said the prosecutor. Several judicial sources stated that the scooter riders reportedly lost control on a bend slamming into the pavement and then into a street lamp.

The driver  Malek S., 19, died instantly while two passengers,still hospitalised are in a critical condition.

The three policemen who were following the scooter have been placed in custody "for purposes of the investigation”, said Rémi Heitz and confirmed that there had been no collision between the scooter and the police car, adding that "the state of the two vehicles that were seized to be examined appear to corroborate this version.