Three prefects, including the prefect of police (PP) of Paris Didier Lallement, are the subject of a complaint including heads of "complicity in willful violence" for the violent dismantling of two migrant camps last November, announced plaintiffs and their lawyers.
In this complaint lodged with the Paris judicial court by two associations for the defense of exiles including Utopia56 as well as 34 plaintiffs, the prefects of Seine-Saint-Denis Georges-François Leclerc, of the Ile-de-France region Marc Guillaume as well as that the "PP" are also accused of "complicity in the destruction, degradation and deterioration" of tents and belongings belonging to migrants during the evacuations of the camps of Saint-Denis, on November 17, then of the Place de la République in Paris, a week later.
Read also Migrant camp in République: five questions on a controversial evacuation
The dismantling by the police of the tents installed in the heart of Paris, on November 23, as well as the violence observed on the sidelines of this evacuation (use of tear gas, de-encircling grenades ...), had sparked a wave of indignation until within government.
A "premeditation" on the part of the authorities, according to the associations
The same evening, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had mentioned “shocking images” and requested a “detailed report” from the Paris police chief.
The IGPN, the “police of the police”, had in the process opened an investigation into these acts of violence, as well as the Paris prosecutor's office.
The complaint lodged on Thursday, consulted by AFP, is also filed “against X counts of organized robbery, willful violence by a person holding public authority and destruction, degradation and deterioration of property belonging to others”. It is deposited by exiles, associative volunteers, elected officials, as well as the associations Utopia56 and Enfants d'Afghanistan, who denounce the “disproportionate” use of force during these two successive operations as well as the “thefts” and confiscations of the tents. and other sleeping bags made available to migrants.
"It is also necessary to hold the responsibility of the Prefect of police of Paris, Mr. Didier Lallement, and of the Prefect of the Region of Île-de-France, Mr. Marc Guillaume, as accomplices of the three offenses" cited during the events of the Place de la République, "as well as the Prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, Mr. Georges-François Leclerc, for the same offenses on the operation to dismantle the Saint-Denis camp", we can read.
The complainants and their counsel consider that there is “premeditation” on the part of the authorities, who acted in a “structured” and “hierarchical” manner.
"All this was prepared, it cannot be improvised", summarized Yann Manzi, founder of Utopia56.
