An Orthodox Jewish woman filed a complaint on Thursday for sexist and anti-Semitic violence, accusing police officers from the Créteil police station tore off her wig, we learned on Monday from her lawyer, confirming information from Mediapart.
The incident took place several months ago.
Sarah (first name has been changed), 67, told the news site that she was taken to the police station following a traffic stop during which the police accused her of refusing to comply.
Handcuffed to a bench, she explains that she lost consciousness.
In her complaint, she indicates that she felt unwell, which the police do not believe: a police officer notably ordered her to “stop acting”.
“She has a wig on her head, take it off.”
When she regained consciousness, she heard a police officer say to one of her colleagues “look, she has a wig on her head, take it off,” which he did, according to a first complaint she filed on June 13 with the IGPN, the “police of police”.
In images revealed by Mediapart and filmed by the pedestrian camera of a police officer at the police station, Sarah, lying on the ground, her stomach exposed, is held by two male police officers and screams.
“I’m Jewish, I want my wig back,” she said several times.
Taken to the Créteil police station for refusing to comply, an Orthodox Jewish woman is humiliated in her religious identity.
When will France, its State, its administrations respect human diversity, of belief and appearance?https://t.co/LkhOstUdpy
— Edwy Plenel (@edwyplenel) February 4, 2024
In the video, we hear the police making fun of her, then forcing her to sit down to give her back her wig, which a police officer ends up slipping under her arm.
“They make fun of her because she is Jewish, while she is in an extremely fragile state,” said her lawyer, Arié Alimi.
In her testimony to Mediapart, Sarah explains that she has worn this wig since her marriage.
The complaint filed by Sarah in June with the IGPN was dismissed for “lack of serious offence” at the end of September, indicated the Créteil public prosecutor's office.
Sarah must be judged on March 4 after refusing an appearance with prior admission of guilt, added the prosecution, without specifying the charges.
She then filed a complaint on February 1, with the constitution of a civil party, for violence of a sexist and anti-Semitic nature by persons holding public authority, a procedure which almost systematically provokes referral to an investigating judge.