Syrian photographer Ameer al Halbi was injured during the demonstration against the "global security" law and police violence in Paris.

According to the director of photography of "Polka", with whom he collaborated, the photographer had a broken nose and was injured in the brow bone.

Reporters Without Borders on Saturday denounced the "unacceptable" police violence against a Syrian photographer, injured during the demonstration against the "global security" law and police violence in Paris.

Collaborator of

Polka Magazine

and AFP, Ameer al Halbi, 24, who covered the demonstration Place de la Bastille as an independent, "was wounded in the face by a baton", said on Twitter Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF.

"We were shouting 'press! Press!'"

"All our solidarity with Ameer Al Halbi. This police violence is unacceptable. Ameer came from Syria to France to take refuge there, like several other Syrian journalists. The country of human rights does not have to threaten them, but protect them, "Christophe Deloire tweeted.

He also uploaded a photo of the photographer, head bandaged, nose still bloody, on a hospital bed, a snapshot signed by independent photojournalist Gabrielle Cezard.

She was next to Ameer Al Halbi and said she lost sight of him during a police charge in a small street.

"We were identifiable as photographers and all glued to a wall. We shouted 'press! Press!'. There were projectiles thrown from the side of the demonstrators. Then the police led a charge, baton in hand," a- she told AFP.

Winner of several awards

"Ameer was the only photographer who wasn't wearing a helmet or armband. I lost sight of him and then found him surrounded by people, his face all bloodied and wrapped in bandages," she said.

"He was psychologically very touched, he cried, and said he didn't understand 'why it was wrong to take pictures'," the photographer continued.

According to Dimitri Beck, director of photography for

Polka

who has followed Ameer since arriving in France almost three years ago, the photographer suffered a broken nose and injured his brow bone.

He was transported to Lariboisière hospital.

Ameer al Halbi, who won several international awards, including the 2nd prize in the "Spot News" category for the World Press Photo in 2017, covered for AFP the fighting and the devastation in his city of Aleppo, in full Syrian conflict.

In Bayeux (which celebrates war correspondents every year), he won the "Regard des jeunes de 15 ans" prize for a picture taken for AFP showing two men, each hugging an infant and walking in a Aleppo street in ruins.

In Paris, he notably followed a training course at the Speos photo school.