William Molinié, edited by Romain Rouillard 06h30, March 30, 2023

After the excesses that occurred last Saturday in Sainte-Soline, two protesters are still in a coma. While the gendarmes are accused of having obstructed the arrival of the Samu, the authorities have not noted any such failure. A military doctor even intervened directly to carry out the first acts of rescue.

Did the police prevent the emergency services from intervening last Saturday in Sainte-Soline? While participating in a demonstration against a mega-basin project in this commune of Deux-Sèvres, two men were seriously injured and placed in a coma. One of them is still between life and death this Thursday morning and his family announced that they had filed a complaint against X. On Wednesday, a recording published by Le Monde and Mediapart suggests that a Samu operator indicates that he did not have the authorization to send help to the site. However, according to the authorities' report, no such failure has been identified.

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On the contrary, a military doctor even intervened to administer first aid, "at the risk of his physical integrity", according to the director general of the national gendarmerie. When this doctor from the Army Medical Service made the decision to rescue the seriously injured demonstrator, he was in the middle of a hostile crowd. According to the account of the gendarmes, he will remain there until the arrival of the Samu.

Accusations that go wrong

"Then he left on foot, under a rain of projectiles launched by the black-blocs," said a colonel. In the military ranks, the accusations of obstruction of the rescue to which the gendarmes are the subject therefore go rather badly. "The organizers themselves advise the demonstrators to avoid the support of the firefighters or the Samu not to give their identity," said a senior member of the gendarmerie.

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In addition, the presence in Sainte-Soline of 22 observers from the League of Human Rights is another subject of tension. The gendarmes accuse these lawyers, activists and doctors of not having confined themselves to their role, namely to document police practices. "They interfere in the device, they saturate the call lines, and put pressure on everyone while it is fire," denounces a soldier yet forced to deal with these cumbersome spectators.