Over 800 Cars Burned On New Year's Eve In France - Reports

MOSCOW, Jan 2 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- On the night of December 31, 813 cars were burned during New Year's celebrations in France, French media reported, according to Sputnik/RIA Novosti.

The Bas-Rhin department, home to the "Christmas capital" of Strasbourg, recorded the highest number of such incidents, with 117 cars burned, the BFMTV broadcaster reported on Thursday. The Rhone department, with its capital in Lyon, saw 82 cars set on fire, followed by the Gironde department in the west and the Val-d'Oise department in the Paris suburbs, where 36 cars were burned each, the report read. In the Nord department, authorities recorded 32 burning cars.

Ninety thousand police officers were reportedly deployed to maintain order in France on New Year's Eve. Several of them were attacked, including in Nimes and Nanterre.

According to the Paris prosecutor's office, 125 people were arrested in the capital between Dec 31, 2025, and Jan 1, 2026, including 33 for intentional violence, 15 for participating in a group with the intent to commit violence or cause damage, and 10 for possession of psychotropic substances.

At the same time, New Year's Eve in the central Netherlands was marked by large-scale riots, violence against emergency services personnel, and vandalism, police said.

Particularly serious incidents occurred in the Kanaleneiland and Overwecht districts, where groups of young people attacked police officers en masse, launching fireworks at them. A water cannon was reportedly used several times to protect emergency services from violence. One police officer was injured during the riots.

In Germany’s Berlin, police detained approximately 400 people, and more than 20 law enforcement officers were injured by firecrackers. In Hamburg, at least ten police officers were injured for the same reason, and in Leipzig, unknown individuals threw glass bottles at law enforcement officers.

-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI