VIDEO. Merah case, ten years later: in Toulouse, his house was the rear base of the RAID

the essential During the siege of Mohammed Merah’s apartment in March 2012 in Toulouse, the police sought secure access to monitor the terrorist. In a parallel street, Armelle’s house served as a passage. The snipers passed by its terrace to position themselves opposite the apartment in the rue du Sergent-Vigné. Armelle remembers very well the night of March 21, 2012. The first shots, around 3 am. “I had just gone to bed, after a birthday party with friends. I thought it came from the neighbor’s house, I didn’t realize at all what it was all about. One of my daughters had a panic attack. I called the police. I was told: Do you live in the Côte Pavée district? Yes, there is an operation in progress. I turned off the lights. Before going back to bed, I stuck my head out the window. A policeman in the street asked me if my house had a back entrance. This was the case, our terrace overlooked that of the pastor’s house, rue du Sergent-Vigné, which was itself just opposite Merah’s apartment. “The girls slept with us, in the furthest room” The house in which Armelle and her husband lived with their four daughters then became a rear base for the RAID. This is where the snipers reach the pastor’s house to avoid being targeted in the rue du Sergent-Vigné where the terrorist’s apartment is slightly overhanging. It was also through the roofs and the terrace that the police evacuated the pastor’s family, including four children aged between one and six years old who found refuge with Armelle. “My two eldest, Capucine and Clémence, young teenagers, quickly left the place and went to see friends. We stayed with the two youngest, Ambre, 6 years old and Colombe 8 years old,” says Armelle. The family then lives to the rhythm of the entrances and exits of the police. She offers them coffee, lets them access the toilets. “We didn’t think too much, they were there, that’s all and it was finally quite reassuring. We protected the girls as best we could, they slept with us, in the furthest room. Outside, everything was dark, there was dead silence and at the same time we heard everything as if it were in our garden. I don’t even dare to imagine what the people who lived in the building felt. While the police go through her window, Colombe immerses herself in the Harry Potter saga Upstairs, Colombe reads the Harry Potter saga; it is through his window, glued to his desk, that the shooters pass. “They always asked her where she was in the chapters. They were professional, very human, discreet and reassuring when the little one asked them when they were going to stop the explosions. But I also felt them stressed, they were really amazed by Merah’s vigor. And then there was the assault, interminable, it froze my blood… We heard everything, the sound of weapons, the invectives. I had the sound but not the image; I imagined under the bullets these policemen whom I had sheltered, I was afraid that there were many dead and wounded. At that time, we put the girls in front of a cartoon. Once the police left, Armelle felt powerless in the face of the journalists’ presence, “they wouldn’t let go of us, they filmed us when we left the house, all the way to the entrance to the girls’ school. It was more difficult than the presence of the police at the house”. The mother also says that she slept badly for several weeks, jumping at the slightest noise. “When I think about it, what comes back to me are those children killed in their school and it still upsets me, I knew the mother of little Myriam. Unfortunately, there were more horrific attacks after that. And today, the sound of weapons is heard in Ukraine. It’s all revolting.”