Sainte-Soline: the Defender of Rights takes up the cases of the two seriously injured protesters

Europe 1 with AFP 18:06 p.m., March 30, 2023

The Defender of Rights Claire Hédon has seized ex officio the cases of the two protesters seriously injured Saturday during the violent clashes in Sainte-Soline in the Deux-Sèvres, announced Thursday to AFP the independent institution. The institution explains that it has seized "in view of the seriousness of the injuries caused, possibly by weapons of intermediate force, in a context of demonstrations". The two protesters, Mickaël and Serge, aged 34 and 32, were still in a coma on Thursday. The second, Serge, has his vital prognosis still engaged. The families of the two men filed a complaint for "attempted murder".

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The League of Human Rights denounces "an immoderate use" of force

This investigation, independently, will aim to determine "the circumstances in which these injuries were caused, and the conditions in which the injured people were rescued," said the Defender of Rights. From 6,000 to 8,000 people according to the authorities, 30,000 according to the organizers, demonstrated Saturday. In two reports, the prefecture and gendarmerie defend a targeted and proportionate response to 800 to 1,000 "radical" demonstrators.

On the contrary, the Human Rights League denounces "an immoderate use" of force on all demonstrators, as soon as they have approached the water reserve. Organizers said 200 people were injured, including at least one person who was blinded in addition to the two protesters in a coma. In addition, elected officials and LDH observers present on the scene denounced "several cases of obstruction by the police to the intervention of the rescue", in particular on a vital emergency situation, that of Serge.

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"The Samu said it could not intervene to rescue a wounded person in a state of vital emergency, since the command had given the order not to do so," wrote the LDH on Sunday. An appeal to the Samu, the content of which was made public on Wednesday, is at the heart of the controversy.