Sainte-Soline: "The help was not prevented by the police," says Gérald Darmanin

William Molinié, edited by Romain Rouillard 20:09 p.m., March 29, 2023

Did the emergency services intervene too late during the demonstration against the mega basin project that degenerated last weekend in Sainte-Soline? A telephone conversation, made public by Le Monde and Mediapart, suggests in any case some difficulties encountered by medical staff to assist any wounded. It shows a Samu operator assuring a doctor from a team of observers from the League of Human Rights that he has not obtained the necessary authorizations to send aid to the scene while a protester is still between life and death on Wednesday. His family has also filed a complaint against X for "attempted murder and wilful obstruction of the arrival of help".

No breach, according to the authorities

Nevertheless, according to the chef of the Samu des Deux-Sèvres, no culprit is to blame in this story. The emergency services were indeed unable to enter the area where the injured demonstrators were, simply because the gendarmes considered the operation too dangerous. A decision welcomed by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, this Wednesday afternoon in the Senate. "Emergency services were not prevented by the police. I know you would be happy to think that the gendarmes want people dead. But this is not the case. And the gendarmes themselves had to turn back because while they were going to rescue a demonstrator, they were harassed by rains of cobblestones and Molotov cocktails. That's the truth," he thundered.

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According to the authorities, no shortcomings have been identified. On the contrary, a military doctor himself intervened to rescue demonstrators seriously injured at the risk of his physical integrity, in the words of the Director General of the National Police.