Of the insults, threats, and blows. In a twenty-minute recording published by Mediapart – a document also obtained Loopsider et The world – we hear police officers from the BRAV-M (brigade for the repression of motorized violent action) let off steam against six young people whom they have just arrested, in Paris.
The facts took place on Monday March 20, near the Place de la Bastille, rue Béarn, in the IIIe arrondissement. In response to the use of 49-3 to pass the pension reform, there are numerous mobilizations throughout France and several “wild” demonstrations take place in the capital. Around 11 p.m., Miguel, 21, meets the BRAV-M police officers.
This Filipino cook, in France for two years, came to take some pictures. “I am an amateur photographer, so I was following the movement to take some images”he testifies to Mediapart, photo in support.
The BRAV-M crew targets and challenges him. “I did not run, they put me with other young people arrested whom I did not know and accused me of having committed violence. I said it was wrong, but they wouldn’t believe medenounces the young man. They were mean and mainly attacked the black man who was next to me. They slapped him just because he smiled”he adds.
Souleymane, 23, from Chad, is indeed one of the arrested. This BTS student and employee in catering alongside his studies, accompanied colleagues to demonstrate. While he wants to go home, he meets the crew and, ” by fear “immediately fled. “They caught up with me and then hit me in the hands and legs, before stopping me. »
Like five other young people, Souleymane is handcuffed and then put on the ground on the sidewalk. One of the officers “was more virulent than the others”. In the audio recording, one of the police officers threatens one of the youths: “If you want, I’ll take you alone. » Then, he dwells on Souleymane and asks him to“wipe his smile”before inflicting two slaps on him.
They now know my neighborhood, I’m afraid to meet them again.
Throughout the arrest, the officers brag about committing violence and threaten: “You’re so lucky to be sitting there, now that you’ve been arrested, I swear, I literally broke your legs… I can tell you we broke some, elbows and mouths […], but you, I would have farted your legs. »
“As I’m not French, and I have a residence permit, he often made fun of me and made me believe that I was going to go back to my country”denounces Souleymane. “You are going to be taken into custody and tomorrow you have an OQTF [obligation de quitter le territoire – ndlr]so it’s over”, loose indeed a policeman. His colleagues scoff and laugh: “He will go back to Chad […]. Ah, excellent […]. AIE Aie Aie… “can we hear.
Image of the arrest of Souleymane, Miguel and Salomé, Monday March 20 in Paris.
« He also threatened to find me to hit me”, says Souleymane. By reading his residence permit, the police memorize his address and threaten him more precisely. “He lives in Saint-Denis? We are going there on Wednesday, in Saint-Denis, in social security, so we are going to find him”launches an agent.
“I was very scared because they said they wanted to find me and they read my address. They now know my neighborhood, I’m afraid to meet them again “, fears the young man. On several occasions, in fact, the police announced that they wanted to find him: “Don’t worry, your little head, we already have a picture of it. You just have to show up in the street again at the next demonstrations and I can tell you that the faces, we are really physio, we hold them back. And don’t worry that the next time we come back, you won’t get on the bus to go to the police station, you’ll get on another thing called an ambulance to go to the hospital. »
The young people then joined a bus with around fifty young people arrested and were broken down in several police stations in Île-de-France: in Bobigny, Saint-Denis and Nanterre. Like the other five, Miguel spent the night in a cell: “It was difficult, I was not allowed to go to the toilet and the blanket they gave me was wet”, he says. It was not until 11 a.m. that he said he was interviewed and then released without any prosecution. “The policeman looked at the photos on my camera and saw that I was telling the truth. » Souleymane is also finally free at noon, without being prosecuted.
A policeman said to him: “You, you will quickly take a plane.” He was also talking about his black penis and balls.
On Twitter, another person arrested gave his testimony. « Everyone goes through it, but out of the whole team, it’s the only young black person who is taken to task. We allude to his penis, we tell him that his next trip will be the plane, we bang him against the wallshe wrote. When I say my name is Salomé, someone repeats: “Ha ha, listen to this, guys, her name is Salomé, that’s going to get us in trouble.” »
Solicited by Mediapart, a judicial source specifies indeed “not to find any trace of their deferment”. Also questioned about the content of the recording, the Paris police headquarters and the interior ministry announced that the prefect Laurent Nuñez, who claims to be “very shocked”had “decided to seize the IGPN”.
Before that, Minister Gérald Darmanin had admitted that he “it may be that, individually, the police and the gendarmes, often under the influence of fatigue, commit acts which are not in conformity with what they have been taught in training and with ethics”calling ” In that case [à] punish them”. “There have been eleven investigations by the General Inspectorate of the National Police under the authority of the magistrates which have been opened for a week”then specified the Minister of the Interior.
For now, the two young men do not wish to file a complaint. “I don’t want to have a problem”, loose Souleymane. With Mediapart, Salomé announces, for her part, that she will file a complaint and also confirms the “totally racist behavior” police officers. “Before they even knew that Souleymane had a residence permit, a policeman told him: ‘You’ll quickly get on a plane.’ He was also talking about his black penis and balls. »
Human rights organizations warn
The revelations about the behavior of the BRAV-M in Paris are part of a context of intensified repression against the social movement, while blocking actions or demonstrations are increasing every day in many cities.
This Friday, March 24, the League for Human Rights (LDH) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) thus denounced, in a joint press release, the “particularly shocking brutalities” committed against protesters in recent days. The two organizations are also contesting the placement in police custody of people “detained for several hours at the police station then released without any prosecution”.
Of the 442 detentions in police custody during the demonstrations that took place between Wednesday March 15 and Saturday March 18, only 52 demonstrators, or 12% of the total, were finally brought to justice. And again, for often light reasons, as noted by Mediapart by attending the hearings for immediate appearances (read here).
FIDH thus recalls, in its press release, that States are the “guarantors of public freedoms, including the freedom to demonstrate peacefully, to express one’s opinion and to strike”. This Friday, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, was also alarmed by a “excessive use of force” and called on France to respect the right to demonstrate.
In Paris, the organization for a week of new formats of so-called “wild” demonstrations (read here), destabilized the police, who ran behind the protesters and carried out mass arrests. Mediapart thus told the story of Alicia*, an artist who, like Miguel and Souleymane, was also arrested on Monday evening and placed in police custody for “participation in a group with a view to committing acts of violence and degradation”, as she came out of her sports class. The young woman was finally released, without charge, “at 12:40” the next day, after spending the night at the post.
Insults from law enforcement
In her testimony, Alicia recounts having been arrested with other people: three friends who went out for a drink, and even the server of a neighborhood café.
The recording proving the racist threats made by the BRAV-M police officers last Monday also puts the finger on the insults uttered by the police, a phenomenon regularly denounced by the demonstrators, but rarely documented.
Victim of a truncheon on the head when he did not represent a danger, like the shows a video widely relayed on social networksAdam Browne, 21, told Mediapart that he was then intimidated by CRS, while his head was bleeding.
“While I was looking for a friend, a CRS said to me: ‘Break up, don’t stay there.’ And then: “Do you want a second one? [coup sur la tête], that’s it ? »says the student, who also testified in the columns of Liberation. Adam Browne, who says he is still shocked and plans to file a complaint for the blow received, adds: “I was crying, I asked if it amused them to treat us like that. The same CRS replied: “Yes, it amuses us seriously.” »