A preliminary investigation has been opened after an incident that occurred overnight from Wednesday to Thursday between two Estonian MEPs and the security guard of a Strasbourg nightclub whom parliamentarians allegedly insulted, AFP learned on Friday from sources familiar with the matter. and judicial.
The incident occurred Thursday around 4:00 a.m. in a nightclub in the center of Strasbourg, according to the source familiar with the matter, confirming information from the regional daily
Les Derniers nouvelles d'Alsace
(DNA).
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A group of MEPs, who were in Strasbourg as part of the plenary session of the European Parliament, showed up at the door of the establishment, according to this source.
Among them, the two Estonians.
The Estonian media site err.ee interviewed one of them, the former Chief of Staff of the Estonian Armed Forces, Riho Terras, and evoked comments made by the second, Jaak Madison, to another Estonian media.
Riho Terras is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), which brings together the conservative parties.
"Racist" remarks
As for Jaak Madison, he belongs to the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, which brings together far-right parties and sparked controversy a few years ago by declaring that Nazism had,
"with its notion of order, got Germany out of the shit".
According to the
DNA
, which quotes the manager of the nightclub as well as the security guard, the latter would have asked the parliamentarians to pay the cloakroom to deposit their jacket there, which one of the Estonians, whose identity does not is not specified, would have refused to do.
He would then have
"made discriminatory and racist remarks"
against the agent, treating him in particular of
"nigger"
and
"monkey"
, affirmed the manager to the Alsatian newspaper.
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Contacted by AFP, the manager of the establishment did not respond.
According to the source familiar with the matter, the tone rose again, until the arrival of the police, one of whose officers took
"a blow"
from one of the Estonians who, tackled
"on the ground" ,
invoked his status as a Member of the European Parliament and his immunity, putting an end to the intervention.
For their part, the two MEPs explained to the Estonian media that Riho Terras had not been admitted to the club because
of “his outfit”
.
They refuted any racist remarks, believing that the French police had
"overreacted"
, specifies err.ee.
The security guard
“filed a complaint”
as well as the policeman, indicated this same source.
“a preliminary investigation is in progress”.