Police inspectors probe lycée injuries in three cities amid school blockades
France's police oversight body investigates injuries to students at blocked schools in Sevran, Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône and Tours. Over 80 officers injured and 625 arrests made nationwide on Wednesday.
Investigations opened into student injuries during blockades
The General Inspection of the National Police (IGPN) has been tasked with investigations concerning incidents in Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis), Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône (Val-d'Oise) and Tours (Indre-et-Loire), Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced on Wednesday 30 September. According to tf1info.fr, these three cases concern secondary school students injured during demonstrations at blocked establishments.
In Tours, a young man was hospitalised in the casualty department of the teaching hospital after cranial trauma. Prosecutor Catherine Sorita-Minard stated that the lesions observed around the eye "are consistent with the impact of a kinetic impact weapon-type projectile". Videos circulating on social media show an adolescent sitting with a bloodied head during the police operation carried out alongside mobilisation of firefighters to extinguish multiple fires.
The Interior Ministry defended the use of intermediate-force weapons, notably tear gas, against minors. Laurent Nuñez emphasised that this use was "highly proportionate" to the circumstances. According to the Indre-et-Loire prefecture, law enforcement officers were "attacked" by projectile fire during the operation.
Pierre-Ange Savelli, chief of staff of the Indre-et-Loire prefect, announced that the investigation would be based on statements from police officers, footage from their body cameras and testimony from people present. "The investigation will allow full transparency on the circumstances of this injury," he stated.
Secondary school demonstrations on 30 September affected 356 establishments nationwide, with a toll of over 80 police and gendarmerie officers injured and 625 arrests according to the Interior Ministry.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)