The mobilization Friday in front of the headquarters of TotalEnergies has left traces. Two activists of the environmental association Alternatiba Paris must file a complaint on Tuesday for acts of police violence that occurred during the attempt by several NGOs to block the general assembly of the company last week in Paris, said their lawyer.
At dawn last Friday, dozens of climate activists from various NGOs tried to block the entry to the meeting of the shareholders of the French hydrocarbon giant, sitting in front of the entrance. They were dislodged by police, including tear gas while they were sitting. The lawyer and the plaintiffs Hélène and Murielle denounce "disproportionate violence".
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For Murielle, who does not wish to give her last name, throwing tear gas canisters at people "sitting and naked", "it is criminal". This 46-year-old mother, a member of the collective since 2018, accuses the police of having "kicked" her while she was "on the ground" and "could not move", because caught in a human chain. She has since had a doctor note of large bruises, which have not given rise to days of ITT, she said, judging "appalling" such violence vis-à-vis movements that carry a cause that is not political, but that of everyone".
Also asphyxiated while she was "nestled", Hélène, whose second action of civil disobedience was "pinned to the ground", where she "almost lost consciousness". "My knees hurt, I have trouble walking," she said. "I want to file a complaint against these attacks, because it is out of the question that we let this pass."
'More complaints will follow'
"Two complaints will be filed with the IGPN (the police of the police) for violence with weapons by a person holding public authority in assembly as well as non-assistance to a person in danger and infringement of the freedom to demonstrate," said at a press conference their lawyer, Arié Alimi, adding that they would be coupled with a complaint to the Paris prosecutor's office. "There was an action that was non-violent," but on the other hand, "we see that there is a desire to hurt the militants," he denounced. "Other complaints will follow against Total shareholders and security guards who have also committed violence," he added.
The NGOs present at the AGM on Friday demanded "concrete and immediate commitments" from TotalEnergies (...) and the end of any new fossil fuel project", giving rise to tense exchanges between activists and shareholders of the French hydrocarbon giant. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, said on the sidelines of the action that the activists were "in their role to alert and say that we must accelerate" the ecological transition.