A white march gathered Saturday in the Lot-et-Garonne some 2,000 people, according to the gendarmerie, to pay tribute to the 25-year-old gendarme who was mowed down last weekend by a driver wanting to escape traffic control.
The march was held in Aiguillon, a small town of more than 4,000 inhabitants where Mélanie Lemée worked in a local brigade, dependent on the neighboring gendarmerie of Port-Sainte-Marie, where the young Normande found the died last Saturday evening.
A calm and emotional procession
At the sound of a siren at 3 p.m., the march started, with a large banner at the head of the procession bearing the name of Melanie carried by members of the local handball club where this accomplished sportswoman played. “It was a force of nature. She was happy. She always gave us morale, ”said one of them, Emmeline.
Leaving the town hall, the procession, which brought together several local elected officials, stopped in front of the gendarmerie where the crowd cheered several times, many laying flowers, before intoning the Marseillaise. “It was very moving to see so many people. This proves that we are all very affected by this disappearance, "said mayor Christian Girardi, adding that he was going to propose to the next municipal council to" give his name to a street ".
"From murderer to monster"
The young woman was broke at a traffic stop by a 26-year-old driver who refused to stop while he was driving, without a license, at more than 130 km / h and carrying "presumably cocaine", according to the parquet of Agen. The suspect, in the criminal record responsible for cases of narcotic drugs and traffic offenses, was charged with "intentional homicide on a person depositing public authority" and provisionally imprisoned.
The death of the young woman aroused great emotion and the brand new Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, paid tribute to her twice, Tuesday by reserving her first trip to the region, and Thursday at the Mérignac barracks, near Bordeaux, where he bowed to his coffin and presented him with the Legion of Honor posthumously.
The suspect's lawyer, who risks life imprisonment and challenges the intention to kill, worried about the media coverage of the case, asking that his client not be "lynched". "From murderer to monster not long ago, and the qualification has also been used on social networks", launched Wednesday Edouard Martial.
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- Aquitaine
- Gérald Darmanin
- White market
- Constable
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