The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Rampage of the Arc de Triomphe: 10 "yellow vests" judged on Monday

2021-03-21T10:43:30.606Z


On December 1, 2018, almost insurrectionary scenes erupted at Place de l'Étoile, causing one million euros in damage. The trial will be held from Monday March 22 to Friday March 25.


Scenes of riots, at the foot of one of the most emblematic French monuments.

Ten people are judged from this Monday, March 22 in Paris for the sacking of the Arc de Triomphe during a demonstration of "yellow vests", but not the main responsible, never found.

Read also: What we saw inside the ransacked Arc de Triomphe

December 1, 2018, third act of the "yellow vests".

Two weeks earlier, act 2 had led to overflows.

But nothing compared to that Saturday, where the police are surprised by the violence that sets the streets of the capital ablaze in the morning.

Nearly a hundred vehicles set on fire, burnt facades, broken windows, looted shops ... Then these almost insurrectionary scenes around the Arc de Triomphe in the afternoon.

The security perimeter that protects the monument quickly disappears.

Demonstrators sing

La Marseillaise

around the flame of the Unknown Soldier, others pick from the Place de l'Étoile pieces of paving stones which will be used as ammunition against the police.

In a huge fog of tear gas, charges of police try to disperse the crowd.

To read also: "Yellow vests": the images of the Arc de Triomphe ransacked

Demonstrators manage to get inside the historic monument, ransack the premises, loot the souvenir shop, reach the top to take a picture of themselves above Paris, yellow vest on their backs.

The pillars of the monument are covered with anti-Emmanuel Macron tags or

"yellow vests will triumph"

messages

.

"Small fish"

Result: one million euros in damage and five damaged works of art.

The head of state went there the next day.

The images of the

“taking”

of the Arc de Triomphe, which caused a huge stir and went around the world, should be shown in court.

To read also: Arc de Triomphe: the damage amounted to "several hundred thousand euros"

More than 400 people were arrested in Paris that day, a record at the time.

But if the investigators estimated that the sacking of the Arc de Triomphe was the fact of a

"large number of individuals"

, they will be only ten in court on Monday.

They are in their twenties for the most part, coming from all over France, and do not present profiles of delinquents.

The prosecution recognized it:

"It is clear that the instigators, even the main perpetrators of the facts (could not) be identified"

.

"It is the trial of the small fish, the big fish are not there"

, summarizes Me Véronique Massi, lawyer for one of the defendants.

His client, 26 at the time, maintains like many others that he only

"

took

refuge"

inside the monument when the police charged.

"They wanted to be in the middle of the action, they didn't think it would end like this."

"Dramatic for the image of France"

They will be judged in particular for aggravated damage and break-in theft.

For trying to break open a door with a fire extinguisher, damage a statue, or even steal nearly 300 postcards.

A young woman picked up a miniature Eiffel Tower, a 40-year-old protester linked to the ultra-right appears for a tag on the Arc.

Me Noémie Saidi-Cottier defends two young people who had spent a few weeks in pre-trial detention.

“We kind of have the feeling that they were paying for others, for everything that had happened, that there had to be some guilty parties,”

she said.

The emotion

"subsided"

, she hopes that

"the judges will know how to put things into perspective and see who they have in front of them"

.

"We have officials"

, even if

"they are not the main ones"

, insists Jean-Philippe Morel, lawyer of the association Halte au looting of the archaeological and historical heritage (Happah), civil party.

The trial, scheduled until Friday, will be

"particularly symbolic,"

he said.

"It was totally surreal"

,

"dramatic for the image of France"

, adds Me Morel, certain that these

"insurrectionary"

scenes

are among those which

"we will remember"

.

Read also: The rebirth of the Arc de Triomphe

Seven other people will be tried later: a minor before the juvenile court and six before the police court for the sole offense of “unauthorized intrusion into a place classified or registered as a historic heritage”.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-03-21

You may like

Life/Entertain 2024-03-12T14:53:23.064Z
Life/Entertain 2024-03-01T07:55:30.776Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.