Le Figaro Nantes
The reaction did not take long.
A few hours after the confirmation by the public prosecutor of Nantes that a 37-year-old man had to undergo the removal of a testicle after being hit by an LBD shot Monday evening in Nantes on the sidelines of a parade against pension reform, a press release denouncing the action of the police was published.
Entitled "Stop the spiral of violence and repression", it is a charge against the way of maintaining order in Loire-Atlantique but also more generally in France with the evocation of the events which occurred on March 25 around the basin project in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres).
“Today, the police strike, the police mutilate, the police threaten our physical and moral integrity”
, is it written.
Read alsoNear Nantes, a municipal police officer attacked with an iron bar on the premises of a town hall
"Authoritarian mode of government"
In this text, signed by political parties, several associations and unions, it is mentioned that
“the demonstrators must constantly suffer tear gas, explosive grenades and LBD shots”
as well as
“humiliations and attacks on the genitals”
.
On this last point, reference is made to previous cases, in particular that of four Nantes students who filed a complaint for sexual assault during body pat-downs carried out on March 14 after returning from a filtering dam against the pension reform.
In this case, the IGPN was seized to investigate.
Signatories of the press release
The text is signed by four local unions, four associations and nine political organizations.
They are:
Unions:
CGT 44, FSU 44, Solidaires 44, the Pirate Union of Nantes.
Political organisations:
EELV 44, Ensemble, GDS 44, Générations.S, LFI 44, NEC, Nouvelle Donne, PCF 44, Place Publique and the UDB.
Associations:
ATTAC 44, Maison du Peuple Nantes, Nantes Committee for Earth Uprisings, Tissé Métisse.
In the rest of the text, the police are accused of resorting to
"acts which taint"
the uniform and which
"are contrary to the code of ethics of the police and the gendarmerie"
.
Deploring an
"atmosphere of fear"
in the processions, the signatories of the text also criticize the power in place which, according to them,
"is sinking into an authoritarian mode of government which has nothing to envy to autocratic regimes"
.
In this, they underline a
“serious drift”
and
“attacks on democracy”
.
