The man suspected of having floured Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the start of the demonstration against the far right this Saturday in Paris was arrested for "willful violence" on the elected and placed in police custody at the end of the day, learned AFP police source.
Around 2 p.m., while responding to the press at Place de Clichy, LFI boss and presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon had received flour on his face. The leader of La France insoumise denounced a "cowardly" act which "could have been worse" and referred to "great tension" and "a threshold which was crossed" a few days after the head of the 'State received a slap during a trip to the Drôme.
In front of journalists who filmed him after his gesture, the alleged perpetrator presented himself as a “sovereignist”.
"I do not believe in the debate", he added, saying to himself "very angry".
Asked about the violence of his gesture, he spoke of "a gesture of protest, as many people do".
This man, who had been the subject of an identity check shortly after the facts, was arrested in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine) for "voluntary violence without ITT (total incapacity for work) on person with public authority, ”said the police source.
The investigation was entrusted to the Paris Territorial Security.
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