In France’s rundown suburbs, it has become as much of a New Year tradition as champagne and fireworks in more affluent neighborhoods.
Every year, the night of December 31-January 1 sees more than 1,000 cars set ablaze across the country in an orgy of vandalism to which the authorities have, until now, largely turned a blind eye.
Since 2010, no official figures on the number of vehicles torched have been published, after it was discovered that a district-by-district breakdown was fuelling a destructive competition between rival gangs.
But Interior Minister Manuel Valls on Monday promised that this year’s figures would be released as soon as they had been collated.
“Because a problem is hidden, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” Valls said.
“We have to have transparency. I don’t want the count of burnt cars stopping at 6:00 am, as it often did in the past to reduce the total. The French have the right to know the reality.”
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