The French set 940 cars on fire to ring in 2015
A total of 940 cars were set on fire in France as part of a New Year's tradition, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
That's an improvement over last year, when 1,067 cars went up in flames.
As unusual as it may sound, setting fire to parked cars is a firmly entrenched way for some French to send out the old and ring in the new. According to government figures, 1,147 cars were set aflame in 2009, and 1,193 went up in flames on New Year's Eve in 2012.
In the three years in between, the government didn't publish the figures in an effort to reduce the incidence of the crime.
Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM-TV that numerous cars were burned around the country, particularly in the east, as well as in suburban Paris, notably the Seine-Saint-Denis region, where fiery riots around France started in 2005 and more than 8,000 cars were set on fire.
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