The Rouen public prosecutor’s office announced on Monday that it would seize the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) to investigate the circumstances in which a demonstrator had her thumb torn off on March 23, on the sidelines of the mobilization against the pension reform in Rouen.
“New elements have been brought to the attention of the Rouen public prosecutor’s office concerning the circumstances in which a demonstrator was seriously injured in the hand last Thursday,” said Frédéric Teillet, public prosecutor in Rouen, in a press release. “The result is the probability that these injuries were caused by the explosion of a tear gas canister”, adds Teillet, who decided “to seize the IGPN following this investigation”.
The inter-union denounces “state violence”
The inter-union of Seine-Maritime had denounced last Thursday “state violence and the brutal use of force against peaceful demonstrators”, affirming that “several trade unionists were injured and hospitalized, including one with a torn thumb” .
Damien Adam, Renaissance deputy for Rouen, was himself moved on Twitter by the fate of the demonstrator and said that he would ask the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin for an investigation by the IGPN to be carried out. “A demonstrator had her thumb ripped off today during the demonstration at @Rouen. It is obviously unacceptable (…) Light must be shed on what happened, ”he wrote.