French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Sunday (June 30th) that he had asked the Paris police chief for a report on the "modalities" of the disputed dispersal on Friday in Paris of an environmental demonstration during which activists were sprayed with tear gas.
According to Place Beauvau, "a CRS technical inspection was triggered and a report was requested from the Prefect of Police on how to manage this law enforcement operation made necessary to restore traffic in the heart of Paris".
Wave of indignation
The blocking and evacuation of the demonstration took place Friday on the bridge of Sully (center of Paris) while it was occupied by the organization Extinction Rebellion. The video of the intervention of the police, widely shared on Twitter, caused a wave of indignation. It shows police officers splashing tear gas campaigners, while peacefully participating in a sit-in.
Born in the United Kingdom, this movement advocates "civil disobedience" to fight against climate change.
PARIS - Intervention of the CRS who use gaseous to try to dislodge the militants.
Several journalists were prevented from filming. pic.twitter.com/XzwTCTYyJE
On Saturday, director and environmental activist Cyril Dion said he refused to be promoted to the Merit Order because of the "violence". "The disproportion of the police response is crazy," he said.
Civil disobedience
According to one of the activists present at the sit-in, "the police arrived at 1 pm, and after 10 or 15 minutes rather quiet, the CRS began to evacuate the blockers sitting in the front line." "As these blockers then came back, they opted for their gassing strategy at 20 cm from the face," she added. "The evacuation lasted 40 to 45 minutes, at about 14 pm, the bridge was returned to traffic," she said, stating that, according to the principle of civil disobedience, the place of manifestation was not declared.
"When I saw this, I asked myself questions and watched the video as a whole," Ecology Minister François de Rugy said on Sunday about BFMTV. "In the beginning, the CRS call the protesters to unblock ... These are very radical protesters" he explained, before continuing: "When you peacefully ask them to clear the way, what have do the police with loudspeakers, and obviously they refuse (...), we have to mobilize CRS to take people one by one and try to remove them. "
"It ends with the use of gas that is meant for people to go away," the minister said.
According to the police prefecture, the police intervened to "stop the impediment to the traffic generated by this action". The officials were summoned "several times to disperse". "In the face of their refusal to leave the place (...), this rally was dispelled by the police," the prefecture said, adding that two people were taken into custody for the offense of impeding traffic.
With AFP