During Saturday's tense day of mobilization, notably on the Place d'Italie in Paris, a protester was wounded by a projectile that appeared to be a tear gas grenade. The General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) has been seized.
On this video broadcast Monday on social networks and seen hundreds of thousands of times, we see this man from Italy during the demonstration of "yellow vests" Saturday. While the situation is very tense in the neighborhood, he discusses the chaos with other demonstrators, near the shopping center Italy 2.
"He was sure he did not run any danger"
Suddenly, a projectile violently hits his left eye. On the spot, protesters and street medics immediately put him at the shelter while he keeps his eye. Questioned by AFP, the police prefecture announced that the prefect of police would seize the IGPN "at the request of the Minister of the Interior". For its part, the Paris public prosecutor's office opened a judicial inquiry for "violence by a person holding a public authority with weapons that resulted in a temporary interruption of work of more than eight days" and entrusted the investigations to the IGPN.
Joined by telephone Monday at the Huriez Hospital in Lille where he was preparing to be operated, Manuel T. told AFP of his intention to file a complaint "in the coming days". The 41-year-old Valenciennes, an auto worker, had trouble expressing himself "because of his injury".
Present at his side at the hospital, a "yellow vest" of 55 years with whom he had traveled to Paris by bus Saturday told AFP that he "did not see anything coming" before the impact. The latter took place "between 14:00 and 14:30," she says. "In his memories, there is no charge, no violence, he was sure he was safe," she said. At this point, the definitive loss of her left eye was not yet medically confirmed, she said.
24 stunned since the beginning of the movement
Saturday's demonstrations, marking the first anniversary of the "yellow vests", were dotted with scenes of chaos in some parts of the capital. In one year, some 2,500 wounded were registered among the demonstrators and about 1,800 in the ranks of the police.
According to the count of freelance journalist David Dufresne, 24 people have been sullen since the beginning of this unprecedented movement of social protest.