A photojournalist violently attacked in Reims, the Elysee reacts
The assault occurred in the priority area of the Red Cross, Saturday February 27.
AFP - FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
A photojournalist was seriously injured Saturday, February 27 in Reims (north-east) during a report in a sensitive area.
An investigation has been opened for attempted murder.
Publicity
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The violent attack in a priority district of Reims by a photojournalist from the regional daily
L'Union
caused a reaction from the political class all the way to the Élysée Palace.
The vital prognosis of the victim, Christian Lantenois, 65, "
is still engaged,
" Reims prosecutor Matthieu Bourrette told AFP this Sunday at midday, without further details on the investigation, opened for "
Attempted murder
".
The facts took place on Saturday afternoon in the Red Cross district, on the outskirts of the city.
Alerted by a resident about strong tensions between youth gangs, the photojournalist and a colleague went there - she in an unmarked vehicle, him with a car in the colors of the newspaper.
A few minutes after his arrival, he was found lying on the ground, bleeding from his ears.
The police were "
on the spot, because they had identified movements of young people, some of whom wore baseball bats or iron bars
," said Marne prefect Pierre N'Gahane.
After the attack, "
the young people quickly dispersed, there was no other incident
" and the district, of some 28,000 inhabitants, "has
remained very quiet since then
", assured the prefect on Sunday.
“
We are not in a context of clashes between gangs,
” he also stressed.
Indignation
The exact circumstances of this attack therefore remain to be determined.
But in a context plagued by the death of two teenagers in brawls between gangs of young people, at the beginning of the week, this attack by a journalist reacted to the head of state.
"
The Elysee has called the editorial staff of
The Union
(...) to express its emotion and sympathy, and its wish to see the perpetrators of the aggression arrested as soon as possible,
" said the presidency.
"
To attack a journalist in this way is to threaten what we hold most dear: freedom,
" tweeted Gérard Larcher, President of the Republicans of the Senate, setting the tone for a wave of indignation that swells to right.
The president of the National Rally Marine Le Pen went further: “
No one is immune to the savagery that is developing in our streets.
Security must be the top priority of any self-respecting government.
Emmanuel #Macron's failure in this area is unforgivable,
”she tweeted.
As of Saturday, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had announced the full mobilization of the police on the case.
The Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot for her part denounced a "
cowardly aggression
".
"
This attack is not the result of chance: the newspaper's car spotted, camera broken, it is indeed the journalist who was targeted,
"
said
L'Union
this Sunday
in its editorial
.
"
The violence which unleashed on Christian Lantenois, precisely because he was a journalist, must not go unpunished as it is contrary to our republican principles and to the foundations of our democratic society
", denounced in echoes
the Secretary General from Reporters Without Borders
, Christophe Deloire.
The National Union of Journalists, for its part, referred to an episode which “is
akin to an ambush
”.
According to a source close to the investigation cited by AFP, no arrest has yet taken place, but a DNA analysis was underway on a stone found on the scene.
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