An investigating judge will investigate the policing practices of the ex-prefect of police Didier Lallement, accused by two figures of “yellow vests” of having put them in danger by “nassant” and of having prevented from demonstrating in Paris at the end of 2019.
Extremely rare fact, this magistrate will look into the legality with regard to criminal law of the overall management of the demonstration, while justice is usually only interested in individual practices such as contentious shots from throwers of defense balls ( LBD).
A controversial “technique”
Denounced in this complaint: the “trap”, which consists of surrounding the demonstrators and keeping them within a given perimeter. This technique has been handed over by several French authorities. The Defender of Rights thus recommended in mid-2020 to put an end to this “cagement” which leads “to deprive of liberty of people without a legal framework”.
And in June 2021, the Council of State canceled several provisions of the national law enforcement plan (SNMO), including those concerning “the trap”, forcing the Ministry of the Interior in December to supervise and limit the use to this technique.
A complaint filed in 2020
At the origin of this complaint, initially filed in June 2020 against Didier Lallement and against X for “arbitrary infringement of individual freedom”, “obstructing freedom of demonstration” or “endangering others”, two co-organizers of the demonstration of November 16, 2019, Priscillia Ludosky, 36, and Faouzi Lellouche, 56.
That day, several hundred people gathered at midday Place d’Italie in Paris to celebrate the first anniversary of the mobilization of “yellow vests”. The procession was to leave at 2:00 p.m. but at 2:19 p.m., the police headquarters requested the “cancellation” of the demonstration due to “exactions”. Twenty-two minutes later, the “yellow vest” Manuel Coisne lost an eye following a police tear gas canister. The stele of Marshal Juin, in the center of the square, is degraded.
A “serious attack on freedom”
Present on the scene, the prefect of police is illustrated by an exchange that has become famous. To a “yellow vest” who challenges him, Didier Lallement responds: “We are not on the same side, madam! »
Supported in particular by the League of Human Rights (LDH), which had observed “serious attacks on freedoms” that day, Ludosky and Lellouche accuse the prefect and his institution of having fueled confusion and anger by announcing the cancellation of the demonstration after its beginning, then by ordering the forces of order to surround the place and to repress the rally, preventing it from coming to an end, causing many injuries.