The Lille prosecutor's office announced Wednesday, May 17, the opening of an investigation after violence reported by a CGT delegate of the childcare brand Vertbaudet in the midst of social conflict in Marquette-lez-Lille (North) and after denunciations of violence by the CGT and the PCF. "Investigations are underway, including requisitions of CCTV images," the prosecutor's office said.
The local union of the CGT had said in a statement that one of the two CGT delegates of the site had been Tuesday night "copiously gassed, beaten" by people presenting themselves as "plainclothes policemen" who came to arrest him in front of his home to the cry of "dirty striker". The Departmental Directorate of Public Security of the North declined to comment.
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Referral to the Minister of the Interior
The boss of the PCF and deputy of the North Fabien Roussel had announced to AFP to have seized the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, of this aggression "extremely serious", and wished that the prosecutor seize it, regardless of the filing of a complaint by the delegate, "traumatized".
Like the communist leader, the secretary general of the CGT Sophie Binet denounced Wednesday violence in the ongoing social conflict in the sign Vertbaudet, where the police evacuated Tuesday a picket held since March 20. "Not only the boss refuses to negotiate but in addition the prefect, instead of organizing mediation, has just sent them the CRS to dismantle the picket line and we have a striker who ended up in the emergency room and several police custody," she lamented on France Inter.
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"Stop all prosecutions against workers"
The evacuation was held Tuesday morning to dislodge strikers mobilized at the call of the CGT for wage increases. According to management, 72 out of 327 employees are still on strike. Received at the end of the afternoon by Elisabeth Borne, the union leader assured that the Prime Minister had committed to her to "stop all proceedings against the workers" and "to guarantee mediation with the management of the company".
Forty striking employees resettled Wednesday in front of the site, supervised by the police, said one of them, Anaïs Vanneuville, to AFP. "We continue our strike and remain mobilized on the site," she said.
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According to the CGT, the police had already intervened on Monday and had arrested two external activists, placed in custody. They were released, without immediate action, according to their lawyer, Ioannis Kappopoulos. In this company, "there is no salary above 1500 euros, the girls who work on the assembly line to make parcels are 22 kilometers a day standing," had denounced in the morning on CNews Fabien Roussel, also demanding mediation. He pointed to a climate of violence and sexist insults, inviting strikers to "file a complaint".
The Insoumise deputy of the Somme, François Ruffin, for his part, reaffirmed Wednesday his support for the striking employees in a statement. "They ask for respect. We respond to them with brutality," he said.
