FRANCE: Police accused of roughly evicting protesting immigrants

Record ID: 348440

  • Title: FRANCE: Police accused of roughly evicting protesting immigrants
  • Date: 2nd July 2010
  • Summary: SCREEN SHOWING VIDEO
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACVOPCS0U2VLX51NU5U6C0IM05
  • Story Text: A disturbing video showing French police roughly handling immigrants of African descent is causing an uproar in France.
    The video, shot on July 21, 2010, shows police dragging away women of African origin who were demonstrating against their eviction from a block of flats where they were living.
    A housing campaigner filmed the scenes which show a mother apparently being dragged on the floor with her baby on her back.
    Other scenes show a pregnant woman lying apparently unconscious on the ground.
    The website which published the video, Mediapart.fr, had almost 500,000 hits by Sunday (August 1st).
    Police authorities issued a statement after the video was released saying police had used normal force in this kind of situation.
    The statement added that policemen could not see the child attached on the back of his mother when she was pulled away.
    The camera, according to the campaigner who was filming, was deliberately broken by a policeman but the video was still on the hard drive and was usable.
    Jean-Baptiste Eyraud, spokesman for an association which helps immigrants find accommodation, was present on the day, but was arrested before the police intervention.
    He said he was shocked when he first saw the film:
    "When I saw those pictures I must say I was shocked. I didn't think such a level of brutality possible. To launch against babies and pregnant women... it's violent," said Jean-Baptiste Eyraud.
    "We think there should be an investigation to understand how this happened. The explanations by the local authorities are not satisfying when they say 'they were warned and they didn't leave', 'the mother lied down on her baby', that's absurd, the baby fell off his mother's back because she was dragged on the floor and that's it. So we need sanctions to be taken otherwise we can suppose that the police will continue brutal interventions," Eyraud added.
    "We are very worried because we feel a climate of repression settling, a brutal and violent one, which will result in those images we see now but maybe others too," said Eyraud.
    The families had set up camp in front of the flats from which they were expelled in early July this year.
    The baby in the video, according to Eyraud, is doing well but is still under medical observation after being traumatised by the event.
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