A CGT delegate arrested by the police or kidnapped by strangers?

What happened on Tuesday evening in Tourcoing? While around 80 employees at the Vertbaudet logistics site, near Lille, have been on strike for wage increases for two months, the atmosphere has been particularly tense in recent days between strikers and the police. Two CGT delegates were arrested on Tuesday noon during the evacuation of the picket line by the police in execution of a court decision. The union announced on Tuesday evening that a third delegate had been arrested and molested outside his home before delaying the involvement of the police.

“This evening, our Vertbaudet delegate was taken in front of his home by plainclothes police,” said the CGT of Tourcoing, adding that the trade unionist had been “Pluck on his car in front of his child”, “Copiously gassed, beaten”, insulted as a “dirty striker” and that the individuals, “allegedly policemen”, spat in his face. Except that instead of being taken to a police station, the delegate was finally released in another town, in Ronchin, nearly 20 km away, without his wallet.

“Investigations are underway”

Contacted by 20 minutes, Wednesday, the prefecture of the North ensured that the parquet floor of Lille had been seized but that the victim had refused to file a complaint. The prosecutor of Lille, Carole Etienne, confirms the opening of an investigation, opened on the “sole basis” of “information conveyed on social networks”. She adds that “investigations are underway, in particular requisitions of video protection images”, deploring however that “the rapid evolution” of the investigation “appears compromised given the refusal of the person concerned to be heard”.

For its part, the CGT published a new press release, Wednesday noon, calling into question the involvement of “occult forces of the police”. The “doubt” that the union representative was arrested by the police “is growing today, after we were able to discuss with various interlocutors”, declares the CGT Tourcoing. “We have no certainty, except that it was in his capacity as a striker and a union representative that Mohamed was attacked in this way”, adds the union. So who and why? The prosecution’s investigation should make it possible to clarify this, if the victim decides to file a complaint.

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