The custody of eight men linked to a far-right group was lifted Thursday evening in Bordeaux and the investigation into violence during a university conference attended by two LFI deputies continues in preliminary stages, announced the prosecution .
The eight suspects were arrested on Wednesday in Bordeaux, Vaison-la-Romaine (Vaucluse) and Ille-et-Vilaine, said Bordeaux prosecutor Frédérique Porterie.
The investigation was opened into counts of aggravated voluntary violence with ITT of less than eight days, violence without ITT and participation in a group formed with a view to preparing racist violence.
The facts date back to December 7, 2022, during a conference at Bordeaux-Montaigne University on the purchasing power of students and in which LFI deputies Louis Boyard and Carlos Martens Bilongo participated.
The police had to intervene for clashes between LFI sympathizers and around twenty demonstrators subsequently identified as being sympathizers of the small group
“La Bastide Bordeaux”
, according to Ms. Porterie.
Two LFI deputies filed a complaint
The next day, five LFI security personnel filed a complaint for aggravated willful violence, describing a gang of 20 to 30 individuals, including two women, having used chairs, a table, pieces of wood and a telescopic baton to injure them.
They also made racist and anti-Semitic insults and Nazi salutes, details the press release from the prosecution.
A complaint was also filed by the two LFI deputies.
“Freedom of expression is a fundamental freedom and what happened is unacceptable
,” responded Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
In police custody, the eight suspects
“contested all the facts arguing that they were a pacifist demonstration aimed at displaying signs denouncing the positions of the two LFI deputies.
They also claimed to have reacted in self-defense in response to the violence initiated by the LFI security service
,” indicates the prosecution.
“Taking into account these elements, the proven domiciliation of the accused and the confrontations and investigations to be continued, police custody was lifted this evening and the investigation continues preliminary
,” according to the same source.