Three people were slightly injured in Vieux Lyon this Saturday evening when ultra-right activists tried to force their way into a conference on Palestine, according to the prefecture and witnesses.
A person was arrested in the ranks of the ultra-right, said the prefecture, “strongly condemning the violence committed”.
People who “hit with sticks”
Around 8 p.m., numerous CRS vehicles, fire trucks, and numerous police officers were around the premises which were targeted, according to an AFP journalist on site.
Christophe Oberlin, a regular surgeon from Gaza who came to present his last two books, described people who “knocked with sticks” to break down the door of the room in which the conference was held, without being able to gain entry.
Several participants describe a “full” room, with a capacity of “120 places”, including children and the elderly. According to them, a window was broken.
Iron bars, mortars and glass bottles
Jérôme Faÿner, president of Collectif Palestine 69, organizer of the event, said he wanted to file a complaint. “It’s the extreme right, they attacked with mortars, I have one in my hand,” he said by telephone, also citing “iron bars” and “glass bottles” .
“We found ourselves in a mousetrap,” described a very distressed participant. “We put a lot of things to barricade the door.”
Around 1,200 people marched in the afternoon in Lyon against the far right at the call of a collective supported in particular by France Insoumise and anti-fascist movements.