Up to eight months in prison, suspended, were requested on Wednesday March 29 by the Marseille public prosecutor's office against three demonstrators suspected of violence against police officers during a rally in early February against the inauguration of the party's first Marseille local Reconquest.
The judgment in this case, for which the lawyers for the defendants pleaded for release and pointed to “
the many
procedural flaws”, was reserved for April 13.
The demonstration, in which some 200 people had participated, at the call of trade unions, anti-racist associations or left-wing political parties, had taken place peacefully until it was dispersed by the police.
“Violence against police officer”
The defendants, two men and a woman aged 19, 23 and 33 respectively, with no criminal records, are notably being prosecuted for “
violence against a police officer
” and “
concealment of the face
”.
One of them is accused of having "
thrown a projectile
" which hit the shield of a CRS.
The second would have tried to help this comrade when he had been arrested and put on the ground: in the process, he would have kicked a policeman in civilian clothes.
The young woman is also accused of having attacked the police.
“
This folder is empty!
“, exclaimed the latter’s lawyer, Me Charlotte Bonnaire, considering that her client “
was confused with another person
”.
At the helm, the defendant indicated that she had only come to “
rescue medically
” people on the ground.
As for the concealment of their faces, in particular by an anti-Covid mask, Maître Philippe Chaudon justified it by explaining that activists from Éric Zemmour's party were photographing the demonstrators from the balcony of their premises.
A “disproportionate” judicial procedure
“
This concealment served to protect their physical integrity against far-right activists who deliver their opponents on social networks
,” he explained.
The defendants' lawyers also criticized a "
disproportionate
" legal procedure, with 48 hours of police custody followed by four days of pre-trial detention in Baumettes prison for the three young people.
For her part, the prosecutor Eve Tassin refuted any political trial and denied having "
received instructions from her hierarchy or from a fantasized 'upstairs'
".
"
What is repressed is not their desire to demonstrate or their political positions but their violent action
" against the police, she added, conceding however that the defendants were "not
particularly violent or disturbing people
" .
