“The police charged violently.
An organization for the defense of electronic music accuses the police of violence this Sunday during the demonstration which took place in Paris the day before, against the bill for comprehensive security and for the defense of culture.
Cultural and artistic collectives had planned to join the procession against the Global Security law, but the presence of sound tanks would have caused tensions.
At the time when the demonstration was preparing Saturday at midday, place Félix-Eboué, in the XIIth district of Paris, sounded demonstration floats "from the world of electronic culture were put directly away from the demonstration. and scattered in the adjacent avenues ”, say the organizers.
"While an acoustic concert took place serenely on the last truck, the time to disassemble the sound systems, the police charged violently", continued the organizers, who accuse a police officer of being "mounted on the truck where the concert was taking place at the time of the charge to hit the musicians and break the musical instruments ”.
According to them, the officer was joined by others who distributed "punches, kicks, batons".
Statements at the heart of the controversy
The police headquarters affirms that these tanks were not declared and therefore had no place in the procession.
The organizers believe they have done everything to prevent their arrival.
The prefecture posted on Twitter a copy of “the only statement received which only mentions a sound truck at the end of the event”.
And the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin to congratulate the police for having "prevented the holding of a rave party near the demonstration".
Here is the only declaration received which only mentions a sound truck at the end of the # MarcheDesLibertés event.
https://t.co/S0COULYGdK pic.twitter.com/KIlvemYfYz
- Police Prefecture (@prefpolice) January 16, 2021
According to a press release from "the organizers of the electronic music procession for a festive defense of global freedoms", "the prefecture had been warned directly by the organization that other tanks than union vehicles were going to join the demonstration".
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Saturday evening, Gérald Darmanin affirmed that 24 arrests had taken place in Paris, and counted "12 police officers and gendarmes wounded" in all France.