For the first time since the beginning of the movement of "yellow vests", a police officer must be tried Thursday afternoon in Paris for "voluntary violence". He is suspected of throwing a block on protesters. The scene dates back to May 1 and was filmed. Quickly, on the networks, the images became viral.
The scene took place around 17:30, between the fifth and the thirteenth arrondissement of Paris, in an atmosphere of late procession. A small group of CRS is cornered. The tension is even stronger than a few minutes earlier, a police officer received a pad on the helmet.
"The situation was not under control"
Laurent Bortolussi, freelance journalist for Line Press, was on site and filmed the sequence. "There was a general context of clashes and rebellion, the situation was not under control," he recalls from Europe 1. "The police received projectiles coming from the boulevard de l'Hôpital, and replied with the means it has: tear gas and launchers of defense bullets, "said the journalist." But, at one point, a policeman picks up a pavement, and throws in the air the piece of granite, which has landed by earth without hurting anyone. "
The CRS who threw the pavement did not denounce right away, for fear of a sanction. This policeman, who is also a trainer for technical and professional gestures, continued to work normally. It has also been mobilized to ensure the maintenance of order on other manifestations of "yellow vests". Today, his lawyer rejects any slippage and will also ask for the release.