Protests after French police accused of baton rape
PARIS: Hundreds of people took to the streets of a Paris suburb on Monday to denounce police brutality, after a 22-year- old black man was allegedly sodomised with a baton during an arrest last week.
The case of the man identified only as Theo, who was sent to hospital with severe anal injuries and head trauma, threatens to revive the contentious issue of policing in France’s poor suburbs, which saw the death in custody of another black man last year and major riots a decade ago.
One officer was charged Sunday with rape, while three others were charged with assault during the arrest in a gritty area of Aulnaysous-Bois on Thursday evening.
The man suffered severe anal injuries which required surgery and was also treated for damage to the head and face in hospital. The severity of his injuries led a doctor to declare him unfit to work for 60 days.
Speaking to French television station BFM on Monday, Theo described being ordered to stand against a wall by police, who deny the allegations and say they were targeting lookouts for drug dealers.
“I saw him with his baton. He rammed it into my buttocks on purpose. I fell onto my stomach, I had no strength left,” Theo explained, adding that he had also been racially abused in a patrol car afterwards.
Video footage of the arrest filmed by the police has been released.
Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux confirmed late Sunday that all four officers had been suspended during the investigation, adding that exemplary conduct and
I saw him with his baton. He rammed it into my buttocks on purpose. I fell onto my stomach, I had no strength left.
respect “must guide the behaviour of security forces at all times”.
There were minor clashes and arson attacks on the vast housing estate, called “3,000”, on Saturday and Sunday evening where the arrest took place. At least five people were detained, police sources said.
With tensions high, further incidents occurred Monday for a third consecutive evening. Three vehicles were set on fire and “several” arrests made, according to a police source.
A helicopter and police reinforcements had been deployed.
The latest incident comes in the middle of a presidential election campaign and follows the death of 24-year- old Adama Traore in police custody in another Parisian suburb last year.
That incident led to several nights of clashes in BeaumontsurOise against the police, with cars and public property also set alight.
Two autopsies were unable to determine the cause of Traore’s death.
A group calling itself Black Lives Matter France, an offshoot of the movement against police brutality in the United States, seized on the case and helped organise protests. — AFP
Theo