Large clashes took place between hooligans and police officers in the French town of Grasse last night, reports BFM.

The disturbances began in the Blaquier district where 50 hooligans sawed all the surveillance cameras off of columns and started destroying bus stops, burning garbage cans and released fireworks in an attempt to spark fires.

The hooligans threw stones and bottles at the police officers who had arrived at the scene, and the local authorities had to quickly transport additional police squads to the town. The clashes continued for a couple of hours, and police officers failed to catch any of the hooligans.

Police say this was done on purpose to distract police troops from the supply of a large batch of narcotics to the district ahead of the upcoming holidays.