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Received anonymously:
a hunting cabin was set on fire by cutting a hole in the roof and spilling a flammable liquid through it in malleville-sur-le-bec, france
French:
Fin octobre, à Malleville-sur-le-Bec dans l’Eure (27), un conteneur faisant office de cabane de chasse a été incendié par un·e ou des anonymes.
Un trou a été fait dans le toit et du produit inflammable a été répandu à l’intérieur de la cabane de chasse.
Translation of a related article, dated 24 November, 2021:
Malleville-sur-le-Bec. Two fires in one year: who blames the mayor?
The hunting cabin of the mayor of Malleville-sur-le-Bec (Eure) was the subject of two arson attacks in less than a year in 2021. An investigation has been opened by the gendarmerie.
Pas de légende enregistrée
While the structure of Michel Auger’s hunting cabin has been preserved, the interior was completely destroyed by the fire that occurred on Monday November 1. (© Eveil Normand / AB)
By Anthony Bonnet
Posted on 24 Nov 21 at 9:58
By his own admission, Michel Auger took a blow to morale on Monday November 1, 2021. That morning, the mayor of Malleville-sur-le-Bec (Eure) did not expect to find his hunting cabin burned down in the forest he owns. Along the road, this building made of prefabricated panels, a former maritime container, is the landmark of the group of hunters that it has united around it for many years. “It’s a hunt of friends, we are about twenty, of all generations, since the youngest is 16 years old and the oldest 86 years old, he explains. It’s very friendly.
On Saturday October 30, the team found itself inside the hut for the first time in a long time, after having abandoned it the previous season due to the Covid. “We left around 6 p.m.,” says Michel Auger. What happened in the hours that followed? The mayor has no doubt about the criminal origin of the fire.
“It’s not an accident, there is no electrical equipment in the cabin. A hole was made in the roof and flammable product was spread on the ground, it was well studied. Thanks to the fireproof panels, the structure was preserved from the flames, but all the fittings (tables, chairs, etc.) burned down.
“No anti-hunting movement”
On January 6, 2021, it was the adjoining container, dedicated to the storage of wood, which had been the subject of an intentional fire, already causing misunderstanding at the time. Two news items of the same nature in the space of ten months, “it’s starting to do a lot”, sighs Michel Auger, forced to question himself. “Is it the chosen one who is targeted? Or the hunter? It creates a bad climate. »
“There is no anti-hunting movement in the area,” says the man who has practiced this passion inherited from his father since he was 16, adding that he has never had any disputes on this subject with local residents. “When we hunt, we warn people by installing signs and it always goes well when we come across joggers, walkers or mountain bikers”, adds Michel Auger, convinced that the origin of the malicious acts is linked to his function as mayor. .
At the head of the town since 2014, he was re-elected in a very particular context six years later. Initially beaten in March 2020, by the game of mixing between the different candidates, he was finally re-elected the following September, thanks to the organization of a new ballot after the collective resignation of several municipal councillors. Two lists then found themselves opposed in this small village of 260 inhabitants.
“This summer of 2020 was the worst of my life, recalls Michel Auger. The climate was unbearable, with many rumours, I had considered filing a complaint for defamation. “Beyond possible electoral overtones, has the mayor also made enemies by straddling certain regulations? “Sometimes we have decisions to make that are not easy, but we can’t let everything happen and I don’t let people who cheat pass, which can cause clashes”, he confides, making sure to don’t say too much.