Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, Saturday May 15, in Paris – Michel Euler / AP / SIPA
- 45 people were arrested and taken into custody on Saturday during the pro-Palestinian demonstration.
- Among her, three people were tried on Monday in immediate appearance.
- A high school student asked for time to prepare his defense while two men received prison sentences.
At the Paris judicial court,
The chubby face, well-groomed hair, the high school student enters the box, framed by the police. The 19-year-old was arrested on Saturday during the prohibited demonstration in Paris in support of the Palestinians. He is tried this Monday for having “thrown a stick twice” in the direction of the CRS, summarizes the president of the chamber. The defendant also refused to communicate his telephone number and to submit to the identification records. “For ideological or political reasons? »Asks the magistrate. The young man is satisfied to answer that he found that too “intrusive”.
Passing the Bac exams on Wednesday, he asks for time to prepare his defense. He will finally be tried on June 7. In the meantime, his lawyer asks that he be placed under judicial supervision, in particular because his criminal record is clean. The prosecutor is not against, but she has a “difficulty” with his refusal to take a fingerprint: there is no evidence that he has never been arrested under another identity or that he is not the subject. a search warrant. After reflection, and to avoid going to prison, he agrees to take a look at the forensic identity and to submit to this measure.
“I saw people throwing stones, I did the same”
A few meters away, in another room, two other men, also arrested on Saturday during the rally, appear. One of them, a Syrian wearing a red T-shirt and a navy blue puffer jacket, admits having burned an Israeli flag. He, too, refused to submit to the identification records. On the other hand, he denies having thrown a bottle in the direction of the police. Justice did not believe him. Already sentenced in 2019 for degradation, he was sentenced to 2 months in prison with a committal warrant.
The third man to appear is suspected of having thrown “pieces of asphalt at the police”. Light blue shirt, dark jacket, this 56-year-old man with graying hair and Senegalese nationality, is assisted at the hearing by a translator. “I had no intention of hurting anyone, it was not against the police,” he explains, admitting to having made “a mistake”. “The police were pushing people, I saw people throwing stones, I did the same. I was in pain, that’s why I did this. He says this is his first time participating in a protest.
Married, father of three children, he swears that he will never do it again. The prosecutor requests a suspended sentence of 5 months. “In a single word, I ask for leniency”, pleads his lawyer, stressing that his client is unknown to the police services and that his criminal record is clean. After a final suspension of the hearing, the president renders her decision: 5 months suspended.