Sainte-Soline: the Defender of Rights takes up the cases of the two seriously injured demonstrators – France

Rights Defender Claire Hédon took up the case of the two demonstrators seriously injured on Saturday during the violent clashes in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), the independent institution said on Thursday, requested by AFP. . The institution explains that it was seized “in view of the seriousness of the injuries caused, possibly by weapons of intermediate strength, in a context of demonstrations”.

The two demonstrators, Michaël and Serge, aged 34 and 32, were still in a coma on Thursday. The second, Serge, has his vital prognosis still engaged. The families of the two men filed a complaint, in particular for “attempted murder”. This investigation, independently, will aim to determine “the circumstances in which these injuries were caused, and the conditions in which the injured people were rescued”, specified the Defender of Rights.

The LDH denounces an “immoderate use” of force

In two reports, the prefecture and the gendarmerie defend a targeted and proportionate response to 800 to 1,000 “radical” demonstrators. On the contrary, the League for Human Rights denounces “an immoderate use” of force on all the demonstrators, as soon as they approach the water reserve. The organizers counted 200 injured, including at least one blind person in addition to the two demonstrators in a coma.

In addition, elected officials and LDH observers present on the scene denounced “several cases of obstacles by the security forces to the intervention of the emergency services”, in particular on a vital emergency situation, that of Serge. “The Samu indicated that it could not intervene to rescue an injured person in a state of vital emergency, since the command had given the order not to do so”, wrote the LDH on Sunday. A call to the Samu, the content of which was made public on Wednesday, is at the heart of the controversy.