Three men were taken into custody after the assault on Sunday in a laundromat in Soisy-sous-Montmorency (Val-d'Oise) of a man who had asked to respect the wearing of a mask to another customer, we learned this Wednesday from sources close to the investigation.
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Two of them went on Wednesday to the Enghien police station (Val-d'Oise) responsible for the investigation, said a close source. One of them is 23 years old and was accompanied by a lawyer, said a police source. A first person was arrested Tuesday afternoon. The three men's hearings continued early Wednesday evening. “Individuals' versions are not the same. The hearings will make it possible to determine who struck the blows, ” said a police source.
The attack took place on Sunday around 4:45 p.m. in a laundromat located in a popular area of this city, according to the complaint for "aggravated violence" , consulted by AFP. “I was folding my clothes to put them in a bag. I asked the gentleman to wear the mask. It is written that it is compulsory and it is the law ” , had explained to AFP the victim, a man of 44 years, who was accompanied by his two children of five and seven years. “He told me 'I do what I want',” he continued, adding that he reiterated this request given the layout of the premises. The instructions for wearing a mask, compulsory in closed places to limit the spread of the coronavirus, are displayed in the laundromat.
Punitive expedition
After a heated verbal altercation, the unmasked young man left the laundry, before returning accompanied by reinforcements, according to the complainant. Two men then hit the victim with a stick, two others with their bare hands, according to CCTV footage viewed by AFP. The punitive expedition, which only lasted a few seconds, continued once the victim was on the ground, according to these images. The father is suffering from a head trauma with a wound, bruises and lower back pain, according to the medical report.
This filmed attack made the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin react, who denounced the “unbearable” images and assured that the police were “mobilized to arrest the perpetrators of these heinous acts” . Tuesday, the Secretary of State in charge of Priority Education Nathalie Elimas went for her part to the home of the victim.
